diff --git a/FABRIC.md b/FABRIC.md
index 5e6beec..9bac771 100644
--- a/FABRIC.md
+++ b/FABRIC.md
@@ -528,22 +528,32 @@ riscv64 timing numbers before and after that fix are not comparable.
 
 ### 16.3 The dictionary is already a Stadium
 
-§1 claims the dictionary is the reference implementation. It is stronger than that.
-`DictEntry` today carries six of the eight wires in §3 — the two it lacks are `mass`, which
-§19.2 added later, and a behaviour tag, since its code field is a raw function pointer
-rather than an enumerated tag (§18.3):
+§1 claims the dictionary is the reference implementation. It is stronger than that — but not
+as strong as an earlier draft of this subsection claimed. Read against `DictEntry`
+(`include/vm.h:335-351`):
 
-| §3 wire | Already in `DictEntry` |
-|---|---|
-| identity | name / `word_id` |
-| heat | `physics.*` (Loop #1) |
-| TTL | `acl_ttl` |
-| pin | `acl_pinned`, plus `WORD_PINNED` / `WORD_FROZEN` |
-| link | dictionary chaining |
-| code field | literally a function pointer |
+| §3 wire | In `DictEntry` | Form |
+|---|---|---|
+| identity | `word_id` + `name[]` | correct |
+| heat | `execution_heat` + `physics` | correct |
+| TTL | `acl_ttl` | correct |
+| pin | `acl_pinned`, plus `WORD_PINNED` / `WORD_FROZEN` | correct |
+| link | `struct DictEntry *link` | **a pointer, not an index** |
+| code field | `word_func_t func` | **a raw function pointer, not an enumerated tag** |
+| mass | — | absent |
+| payload | — (definition body lives outside the entry) | absent |
 
-The dictionary is not *analogous* to a Stadium entry. It is one, already built and already
-tested. Everything else is what gets generalized toward it.
+**Four wires present in correct form, two present in the wrong form, two absent.** An
+earlier draft said "six of eight" and named the missing two as mass and a behaviour tag,
+which double-counted the code field and omitted payload.
+
+The wrong-form pair is the interesting part. `link` being a pointer is precisely what §13
+identifies as *"the single biggest difference between a tractable proof effort and a research
+project,"* and the raw function pointer is what §18.3 requires to become a closed tag.
+
+So the honest claim is weaker than "the dictionary *is* a Stadium entry" and still strong
+enough to carry §1: **the dictionary already has the concepts, and two of the eight need to
+change form.** Everything else is what gets generalised toward it.
 
 **But run §9's admission test on it before moving it in.** Its reap event is the weak
 wire. Blocks migrate, messages deliver, VMs die by cooling — a dictionary word does not