l. Words in this dictionary are arranged in the serial order of the Sanskrit alphabet which is current everywhere, viz. the fourteen vowels beginning with अ and ending with औ, and then the thirty-three consonants consisting of the five guttural, the five palatal, the five cerebral, the five dental and the five labial consonants and then the four semi-vowels and the four sibilants. क्ष् is taken as a combination of क् and ष्, and ज्ञ् as one of ज् and ञ्.
2. Words are given in their noun-base (प्रातिपदिक) such as अकर्मक, अकार, अक्षर etc., without the addition of any case affix.
3. At places of option where any one of the anusvāra and the parasavarṇa could be used, the anusvāra is consistently used, and a place after the vowels and before the consonants is assigned to it in the alphabetical order. For example, the words containing anusvāra such as संकर्ष, संक्रम, संचय, संज्ञा, संतान, संधि, संप्रसारण, संयोग, संवरण, संसर्ग, संहिता etc., are all placed after स and before सक्, सकर्मक etc.
4, Each word entered, has got only one paragraph assigned to it, although the explanation of the word may cover sometimes a full page or more.
5. The meaning or meanings of a word are given immediately after it, and therefore no capital letter is used at the beginning of the word with which each meaning begins.
6. The various senses of a word are given one after another with serial numbers placed before them. The several senses of a word are arranged as far as possible in their chronological order of origin.
7. The various senses are usually illustrated with quotations from standard authors with full references as far as possible. From among the Prātiśākhya works, the Ṛkprātiśākhya is generally quoted,while from among the numerous grammar works, the Mahābhāṣya and the Kāśikā are quoted profusely.
8. The first figure in references, which is generally the Roman one, refers to the main section such as the adhyāya or the Kāṇda or the Paṭala, while the next one refers to the subordinate sections, such as the stanza or the Sūtra or the like. When there are three figures they refer to the adhyāya, the pāda and the Sūtra in the case of Pāṇini, and to the Maṇḍala,the Sūkta and the stanza in the case of the Ṛksaṁhitā.
9. When a particular form is illustrated, the illustration begins with the abbreviation 'e.g.'; while usually, when the sense given is illustrated, the explanation or the quotation in Sanskrit begins with the abbreviation 'cf'.
