Append a dictionary to a dictionary

You can do

orig.update(extra)

or, if you don't want orig to be modified, make a copy first:

dest = dict(orig)  # or orig.copy()
dest.update(extra)

Note that if extra and orig have overlapping keys, the final value will be taken from extra. For example,

>>> d1 = {1: 1, 2: 2}
>>> d2 = {2: 'ha!', 3: 3}
>>> d1.update(d2)
>>> d1
{1: 1, 2: 'ha!', 3: 3}

dict.update() looks like it will do what you want...

>> orig.update(extra)
>>> orig
{'A': 1, 'C': 3, 'B': 2, 'E': 5, 'D': 4}
>>> 

Perhaps, though, you don't want to update your original dictionary, but work on a copy:

>>> dest = orig.copy()
>>> dest.update(extra)
>>> orig
{'A': 1, 'C': 3, 'B': 2}
>>> dest
{'A': 1, 'C': 3, 'B': 2, 'E': 5, 'D': 4}

There are two ways to add one dictionary to another.

Update (modifies orig in place)

orig.update(extra)    # Python 2.7+
orig |= extra         # Python 3.9+

Merge (creates a new dictionary)

# Python 2.7+
dest = collections.ChainMap(orig, extra)
dest = {k: v for d in (orig, extra) for (k, v) in d.items()}

# Python 3
dest = {**orig, **extra}          
dest = {**orig, 'D': 4, 'E': 5}

# Python 3.9+ 
dest = orig | extra

Note that these operations are noncommutative. In all cases, the latter is the winner. E.g.

orig  = {'A': 1, 'B': 2}
extra = {'A': 3, 'C': 3}

dest = orig | extra
# dest = {'A': 3, 'B': 2, 'C': 3}

dest = extra | orig
# dest = {'A': 1, 'B': 2, 'C': 3}

It is also important to note that only from Python 3.7 (and CPython 3.6) dicts are ordered. So, in previous versions, the order of the items in the dictionary may vary.