Abstract: The Dicionário Português-Chinês, a manuscript dated to the 1580s and preserved in the Archives of the Society of Jesus in Rome, is believed to be the earliest European-Chinese dictionary with both Chinese and Portuguese wordstocks, testifying to the earlier contact between China and Europe in the late 16th century. Based on a comprehensive interpretation of around 6000 Portuguese entries and their Chinese translation equivalents, the paper shows how words could serve as extensive evidence of history, vividly recording various aspects of China's social life in the late Ming-Dynasty.