A Mongolian-Mandarin dictionary of criminal law, the first of its kind in China, has been published in northern China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, local authorities said Monday.

The dictionary, also China's first Mongolian-Mandarin law dictionary, contains over 25,000 entries, covering criminal law terms used in modern and ancient China.

The compilation of the dictionary started in 2009 and was led by the people's procuratorate in Inner Mongolia's Xilingol League.

The dictionary is expected to help provide legal services in both languages and is essential to litigations handled in Mongolian, according to Jirumtuu, one of the dictionary's compilers.