Here's a breakdown:
* The most common definition: The "Simplified Chinese character set" used in mainland China contains approximately 8,500 characters commonly used in daily life and literature.
* The "Traditional Chinese character set" used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau is larger, containing around 13,500 characters.
* The total number of characters: The "Kangxi Dictionary," a comprehensive dictionary published in the 17th century, lists over 47,000 characters. However, many of these are rare or archaic, not commonly used today.
* Uniquely identifiable characters: Some estimates suggest that there might be up to 100,000 characters in the history of the Chinese language, but many of these are variations or have fallen into disuse.
Therefore, there is no single, definitive answer to your question. It depends on what set of characters and what definition of "dictionary" you are using.