encyclopedia

English

This entry needs quotations to illustrate usage. If you come across any interesting, durably archived quotes then please add them!

Volumes 5–12 of the Encyclopedia Americana (covering topics from Bulgaria to Goethals) in the SUB Library at the University of Göttingen, Germany

Alternative forms

• encyclopaedia (UK)
• encyclopædia (archaic)

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₁en-

Proto-Indo-European *h₁én

Ancient Greek ἐν (en)

Ancient Greek ἐν- (en-)

Proto-Indo-European *kʷel-

Proto-Indo-European *kʷékʷlos

Ancient Greek κύκλος (kúklos)

Proto-Indo-European *-yósder.

Ancient Greek -ιος (-ios)

Ancient Greek ἐγκύκλῐος (enkúklios)

Proto-Indo-European *peh₂w-der.

Proto-Hellenic *pā́wits

Ancient Greek παῖς (paîs)

Ancient Greek -εύς (-eús)

Ancient Greek -εύω (-eúō)

Ancient Greek παιδεύω (paideúō)

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-i-eh₂

Ancient Greek -ία (-ía)

Ancient Greek παιδείᾱ (paideíā)

Ancient Greek ἐγκύκλιος παιδείᾱ (enkúklios paideíā)der.

New Latin encyclopaedīabor.

English encyclopedia

Borrowed from New Latin encyclopēdīa, encyclopaedīa (“general education”), a univerbated form of Koine Greek ἐγκύκλιος παιδείᾱ (enkúklios paideíā, “education in the circle of arts and sciences”), from Ancient Greek ἐγκύκλιος (enkúklios, “circular”) + παιδείᾱ (paideíā, “childrearing; education”), q.v. Nearly all modern English use of the word influenced by the scope and format of Diderot & al.'s French Encyclopédie.

Pronunciation

• (Canada) IPA^(key): /ənˌsəɪ.kləˈpi.di.ə/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɪnˌsaɪ.kləˈpi(ː).dɪə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ɪnˌsaɪ.kləˈpi(ː).di.ə/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːdiə
• Hyphenation: en‧cy‧clo‧pe‧di‧a

Noun

encyclopedia (plural encyclopedias or encyclopediae or encyclopediæ)

2. A comprehensive reference work (often spanning several printed volumes) with articles (usually arranged in alphabetical order, or sometimes arranged by category) on a range of subjects, sometimes general, sometimes limited to a particular field.

   I only use the library for the encyclopedia, as we’ve got most other books here.

   His life's work is a four-volume encyclopedia of aviation topics.

3. Similarly comprehensive works in other formats.

   Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia anyone can edit.^{[citation needed]}

4. (dated) The circle of arts and sciences; a comprehensive summary of knowledge, or of a branch of knowledge.

Usage notes

The spelling encyclopedia is standard in American English, common in Canadian English, accepted in Australian and International English, and also very common in British English although nonstandard. Oxford spelling prefers the etymologized form encyclopaedia, which restores the αι diphthong in Ancient Greek παιδεία. The variant with the æ ligature still appears in the titles of some encyclopaedic works, but it is otherwise archaic in ordinary usage.

Derived terms

• encyclopedial
• encyclopedialike
• encyclopedian
• encyclopedic
• encyclopedical
• encyclopedic dictionary
• encyclopedic fiction
• encyclopedist
• -pedia
• walking encyclopedia
• Wikipedia
• xenoencyclopedia

 

Related terms

• paideia
• Paidia
• -pedia
• pedo-

 

Translations

comprehensive with on a range of topics

Acehnese: ènsiklopèdia Afrikaans: ensiklopedie (af) Albanian: enciklopedi (sq) f Alemannic German: Enzyklopädie Amharic: መዝገበ ዕውቀት (mäzgäbä ʿəwḳät) Arabic: مَوْسُوعَة (ar) f (mawsūʕa), دَائِرَة مَعَارِف f (dāʔirat maʕārif) Moroccan Arabic: موسوعة (mawsūʕa) Armenian: հանրագիտարան (hy) (hanragitaran) Asturian: enciclopedia f Azerbaijani: qamus, ensiklopediya (az), biliklik (South Azerbaijani) Arabic: قاموس (qāmūs) Bakhtiari: دونسمندنامه (dunismandnāma) Baluchi: زانتنامہ (zāntnāma), زانتگرد (zántgird) Basque: entziklopedia (eu) Belarusian: энцыклапе́дыя f (encyklapjédyja), энцыкляпэ́дыя f (encykljapédyja) Bengali: বিশ্বকোষ (bn) (biśśokōś) এনসাইক্লোপিডিয়া (enośaiklōpiḍiẏa) Betawi: ènsiklopédi Brahui: zántgird Breton: holloueziadur (br) Bulgarian: енциклопе́дия (bg) f (enciklopédija) Burmese: စွယ်စုံကျမ်း (my) (cwaicumkyam:) Carpathian Rusyn: енціклопе́дія f (enciklopédija) Catalan: enciclopèdia (ca) Chinese: Cantonese: 百科全書 / 百科全书 (baak3 fo1 cyun4 syu1), 百科事典 (baak3 fo1 si6 din2) Mandarin: 百科全書 / 百科全书 (zh) (bǎikēquánshū), 百科事典 (zh) (bǎikēshìdiǎn) Chuvash: энциклопеди (entsiklop̬edi) Crimean Tatar: entsiklopediya Czech: encyklopedie (cs) f Danish: encyklopædi (da), leksikon (da) n Dutch: encyclopedie (nl) m Erzya: содамкундо (sodamkundo) Esperanto: enciklopedio (eo) Estonian: entsüklopeedia (et) Faroese: alfrøðibók f Finnish: tietosanakirja (fi), ensyklopedia (fi) French: encyclopédie (fr) f Galician: enciclopedia (gl) f Georgian: ენციკლოპედია (enciḳloṗedia) German: Enzyklopädie (de) f, Lexikon (de) n, Konversationslexikon (de) n; Realencyclopädie f, Realwörterbuch n (archaic) Gilaki: دانشنامه (dånišnåmä) Greek: εγκυκλοπαίδεια (el) f (egkyklopaídeia) Ancient: πανδέκτης m (pandéktēs) Gurani: زانستنامە (zānistnāma) Haitian Creole: ansiklopedi Hebrew: אֶנְצִיקְלוֹפֶּדְיָה (he) f (entsiklopédya) Hindi: ज्ञानकोष m (jñānkoṣ), विश्वकोश (hi) m (viśvakoś), विश्वकोष (hi) m (viśvakoṣ), साइक्लोपीडिया (hi) f (sāiklopīḍiyā), इनसाइक्लोपीडिया f (insāiklopīḍiyā) Hungarian: enciklopédia (hu), lexikon (hu) Icelandic: alfræðibók (is) f, alfræðiorðabók (is) f, alfræðirit (is) n Ido: enciklopedio (io) Indonesian: ensiklopedia (id) Interlingua: encyclopedia (ia) Irish: ciclipéid f Italian: enciclopedia (it) f Japanese: 百科事典 (ja) (ひゃっかじてん, hyakkajiten), 百科全書 (ja) (ひゃっかぜんしょ, hyakkazensho) Kannada: ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶ (viśvakōśa) Karachay-Balkar: энциклопедия (entsiklopediya) Kazakh: энциклопедия (énsiklopediä) Khmer: វិជ្ជាសមោធាន (vɨcciə saʼmaothiən), សៀវភៅប្រជុំវិជ្ជា (siəw phɨw prɑcum vɨcciə) Korean: 백과사전(百科事典) (ko) (baekgwasajeon), 백과전서(百科全書) (ko) (baekgwajeonseo) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: زانستنامە (zanistname) Laki: زانستنۆمە (zanistnome) Northern Kurdish: zanistname (ku) Southern Kurdish: زانستنامە (zanistname) Kyrgyz: энциклопедия (ky) (entsiklopediya) Lao: ສາລານຸກົມ (lo) (sā lā nu kom) Latin: encyclopaedīa f (new), pandectēs m Latvian: enciklopēdija f Limburgish: encyklopedie Lithuanian: enciklopedija (lt) f Livvi: tiedosanakniigu Low German: nokieksel Luxembourgish: Enzyklopedie f Macedonian: енциклопе́дија f (enciklopédija) Malay: ensiklopedia (ms), jagat katan Malayalam: സർവവിജ്ഞാനകോശം (saṟvavijñānakōśaṁ), വിജ്ഞാനകോശം (ml) (vijñānakōśaṁ) Maori: mātāpunenga Mazanderani: دانشنومه (dānišnuma) Mongolian: Cyrillic: нэвтэрхий толь (nevterxii tolʹ) Nahuatl: centlamatilizamoxtli (nah) Navajo: ínsadoobíídiiya Northern Luri: دونسمنامٱ (dunismnāma) Northern Sami: diehtosátnegirji Northwestern Ojibwa: gikendamowin-mazina'igan Norwegian: Bokmål: encyklopedi (no) m Nynorsk: encyklopedi m Old Church Slavonic: Cyrillic: єнкѷклопєдїꙗ f (enkü̏klopedija) (new) Ossetian: энциклопеди (ènciklopedi) Ottoman Turkish: محیطالمعرف (mühītülmā'rif) Pashto: پوهنغونډ (ps) m (pohǝnǧwǝnḍ) Persian: Iranian Persian: دانِشْنامِه (dânešnâme), دایِرَةُالْمَعارِف (dâyerat-ol-ma'âref), دائِرَةُالْمَعارِف (dâ'erat-ol-ma'âref), آنْسیکْلوپِدی (ânsiklopedi) Polish: encyklopedia (pl) f Portuguese: enciclopédia (pt) f Punjabi: ਵਿਸ਼ਵਕੋਸ਼ m (viśvakoś) Romanian: enciclopedie (ro) f Russian: энциклопе́дия (ru) f (enciklopédija) Sanskrit: विश्वकोश (sa) (viśvakośa) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: енциклопе́дија f Roman: enciklopédija f Slovak: encyklopédia (sk) f Slovene: enciklopedija (sl) f Sorbian: Lower Sorbian: encyklopedija f Upper Sorbian: encyklopedija f Spanish: enciclopedia (es) f Swahili: kamusi elezo, ensaiklopidia Swedish: encyklopedi (sv) c, konversationslexikon (sv) n, uppslagsverk (sv) n Tagalog: santalaalaman, ensiklopedya (tl) Tajik: донишнома (tg) (donišnoma), доиратулмаориф (doyiratulmaorif), энсиклопедия (ensiklopediya) Tatar: энциклопедия (entsiklopediyä) Telugu: విజ్ఞానసర్వస్వం (vijñānasarvasvaṁ) Thai: สารานุกรม (th) (sǎa-raa-nú-grom) Tibetan: ཤེས་བྱ་ཀུན་ཁྱབ་མཛོད (shes bya kun khyab mdzod, literally “treasury of the universally knowable”), རིག་མཛོད (rig mdzod, literally “knowledge treasury”) (non-standard, but now used to translate “-pedia” in “Wikipedia”) Tigrinya: ኢንሳይክሎፐድያ (ʾinsaykəlopädya), መዝገበ ፍልጠት (mäzgäbä fəlṭät) Turkish: ansiklopedi (tr) Turkmen: ensiklopediýa Ukrainian: енциклопе́дія f (encyklopédija) Urdu: دائِرَۃُ الْمَعارِف (dāiratu l-ma'ārif), کِتابُ الْمَعارِف (kitābu l-ma'ārif), قامُوس (ur) m (qāmūs), اِنْسائِیکِلوپِیڈْیا (insāīkilopīḍyā), موسوعہ (mausū'a), احصاء العلوم (ihsā'-ul-u'lūm), قاموس الاحلام (qāmūs-al-ahlām) Uyghur: قامۇس (ug) (qamus), ئېنسىكلوپېدىيە (ënsiklopëdiye), ئېنىسىكلوپېدىيە (ënisiklopëdiye) Uzbek: ensiklopediya (uz), qomus (uz) Vietnamese: bách khoa toàn thư (vi) (百科全書) Volapük: sikloped (vo), (synonym) züklopäod, realasikloped Welsh: gwyddoniadur (cy) m West Frisian: ensyklopedy Yakut: энциклопедия (entsiklopediya) Yiddish: ענציקלאָפּעדיע f (entsiklopedye) Zazaki: ensiklopediye Zealandic: encyclopedie

See also

• dictionary

Further reading

• encyclopedia on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “encyclopedia”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.