mòine¶

mòine is a Python and Rust library for romanization-aware string comparison. It implements Lattice Path Edit Distance (Kaji, 2023), a distance metric that compares strings through possible reading paths rather than only through visible surface characters.

>>> import moine
>>> moine.distance("moine", "モイニャ", lang="ja")
2
>>> moine.distance("もいにゃ", "モイニャ", lang="ja")
0
>>> moine.distance("weishiji", "威士忌", lang="zh")
0
>>> moine.distance("布納哈奔", "布納哈本", lang="zh")
0

What It Is For¶

mòine is useful for matching noisy Japanese or Chinese search/input strings, especially when surface forms differ but reading paths stay close.

• Japanese comparison uses UniDic-CWJ-derived reading artifacts by default, with separate SudachiDict-derived artifacts when users choose the ja-sudachi selector.
• Chinese comparison uses CC-CEDICT-derived no-tone pinyin artifacts.
• Python APIs include distance, combined_distance, ratio, partial_ratio, and cdist.
• Rust users can use the published crate and detailed API documentation on docs.rs.

Try It¶

Open the browser demo Use the CLI Read the Python API reference

Benchmark¶

The scoring table was recorded on 2026-06-28. It reports scoring time only; dictionary loading is shown separately below.

uv run python -m moine download ja
uv run --python python3.14 --with rapidfuzz \
  python scripts/benchmark_distances.py \
  --loops 10000

This is a quick local benchmark command. The release-wheel command used for the recorded table lives in the development notes.

Fresh dictionary loads from the standard installed artifacts, recorded on 2026-06-28 and measured over 100 loads:

Name¶

The project name is inspired by Bunnahabhain Mòine, a Scotch whisky.