A Python dictionary is a data structure that stores the value in key: value pairs. Values in a dictionary can be of any data type and can be duplicated, whereas keys can’t be repeated and must be immutable.
Example: Here, The data is stored in key:value pairs in dictionaries, which makes it easier to find values.
d = {1: 'Geeks', 2: 'For', 3: 'Geeks'}
print(d)
{1: 'Geeks', 2: 'For', 3: 'Geeks'}
In Python a dictionary is a generalised Hashmap – in other words it uses a hash algorithm on the key to transform a key (which could be a string, an integer, float or any other hashable object) into a number. That number is then used to locate that keys place within the hash table.
Because Python is able to use many different data types as keys – there is no one algorthim, There are different algorithms for each builtin data type, and of course custom objects can also provide hash algorithms for themselves too.
There is quite a range of dictionary-oriented algorithms but they each have their niche. Is this for an actual human language-type dictionary or a simple word-based lookup table? Leveraging a hash table is very common and the basis of many map data structures. Is it for a very large number of dictionary words or a more restricted set (e.g. domain-specific)? (Note: most programming languages already have collections built-in to support direct lookups via associative arrays or maps)
If the solution you’re seeking leans more toward human language-type words, it’ll get more complicated to support root words along with prefix/suffix combinations (e.g. spell check). Also, if exact match isn’t the only dictionary search needed, you may also consider using soundex (phonetic-based) as the key into your hash table. Will real-time results be required for live interaction? If your need is more translation-oriented and the vocabulary is constrained, consider parsing or even a finite state machine can do the job quickly; this is probably not what you desire if for a conventional dictionary. Finally, if these are dictionary entries not memory-contained, now you’re likely venturing into NoSQL territory or a relational database (e.g. indexed).