Limitations
What this can and cannot do.
Built with the Deaf community means saying plainly where the edges are. This page is kept current alongside the code.
What this is
A small reference dictionary of isolated ASL signs — searchable by gloss, meaning, alias, and how the sign is formed — plus a browser demo that recognizes six signs from a webcam.
Everything in the demo runs on your machine. Landmark data and video never leave the browser.
What this is not
It is not a sign-language translator. Entries are isolated citation forms; continuous signing — grammar, non-manual markers, spatial constructions — is out of scope.
The demo's recognition is a small hand-written heuristic over hand and body landmarks. It is not a trained model, and it detects exactly six signs. Recognizing six signs is not understanding ASL.
Review status of entries
A sign is not an English word, and describing one is a linguistic claim. Entries begin as provisional: written by the site's builders and not yet checked by a fluent Deaf signer. Provisional entries are labelled as such wherever they appear.
When a fluent signer reviews an entry, the entry carries their name. Review is a recorded fact on the entry, not a promise.
Coverage
The dictionary is small and grows only as fast as consented, reviewed content can be produced. Regional and signer variation is barely represented so far.
Demonstration videos come only from signers who agreed, in writing, to appear here — never from scraped datasets or social media. That is slower, on purpose.
Spot something wrong — a description, a formation note, a missing variant? The dictionary is reviewed by people, and corrections are welcome.