language agnostic - How to look up a word's variations in a dictionary? -
part of i'm trying implement requires me list of words in dictionary (a map keys words , values definitions). this: ... fisherman | person fishes apple | red juicy fruit computer | oversized calculator ... say have word "fisherman". far good: i'll use functions offered whatever language i'm using retrieve definition dictionary. the problem, however, arises when need search "fishermen", or "apples", or "computers". lookup these words should yield same value singular counterparts. would lehevenstein distance work? online dictionaries use? tried stemming, looks me yield off results (e.g. 'fish' in place of 'fisherman'), , i'm worried lehevenstein distance same. i know there must solution of sort, because time ago stumbled across online api latin lookup did this. , online dictionaries can it. it important such solution workable in languages other english. it's worth, i'm interested in fren...