Search results - what does the "*" mean?

[abancroft]

My question deals with search results. Some words come up with [word]*, while others come up with just [word] (ie, no asterisk "*"). I can't quite figure out the exact meaning of the asterisk...does it mean that the word is commonly used, or just that it's the dictionary's main entry...or does it mean that the word is only found in literature but not commonly spoken? Or does it mean that it's commonly spoken, but is not formal enough to be found in literature? I looked through the manual, and could find nothing describing what the * means...anyone know for sure?

Andrew

 

[mikelove]

It means that this is the most common word with that particular Pinyin pronunciation, *without regard to tones* - useful if you're not sure what the tones were on something you heard, or if you see a Pinyin sign somewhere without tone marks on it.