encyclopedia
/ɪnˌsaɪkləˈpidi.ə/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.52 in modern English
22
Scrabble Score
12
Letters
6
Syllables
10
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
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.
noun
Similarly comprehensive works in other formats.
Example Sentences
- "I only use the library for the encyclopedia, as we’ve got most other books here."
- "My old encyclopedia has been gathering dust on the shelf for the past decade."
- "The Encyclopedia which we are presenting to the public is, as its title declares, the work of a society of men of letters. Were we not of their number, we might venture to affirm that they are all favorably known or worthy of being so."
- "The first encyclopædia written in English and with the articles alphabetically arranged was the ‘Lexicon Technicum,’ […] [in 1704], by John Harris, a London clergyman. This was a useful and popular work, though it omitted from its scope theology, biography, antiquity and poetry."
- "It would be easier to compile an encyclopedia for you than to write these longhand letters whose ink blackens the night."
- "[The Origins] can best be summarized, maybe, as an encyclopedia in the guise of an etymological dictionary, by a writer already centuries removed from some of his material."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁én Ancient Greek ἐν (en) Ancient Greek ἐν- (en-) Proto-Indo-European *kʷelh₁-redup. Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *kʷékʷlos Proto-Hellenic *kʷókʷlos Proto-Hellenic *kúklos Ancient Greek κύκλος (kúklos) Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Ancient Greek -ῐος (-ĭos) Ancient Greek ἐγκύκλῐος (enkúklĭos) Proto-Indo-European *peh₂w-der. Proto-Hellenic *pā́wits Ancient Greek παῖς (paîs) Pre-Greekder.? Proto-Hellenic *-eús Ancient Greek -εύς (-eús) Ancient Greek -εύω (-eúō) Ancient Greek παιδεύω (paideúō) Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-i-eh₂ Proto-Hellenic *-íā Ancient Greek -ία (-ía) Ancient Greek παιδείᾱ (paideíā) Ancient Greek ἐγκύκλιος παιδείᾱ (enkúklios paideíā)bor. New Latin encyclopaedīalbor. 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 usage of the word was influenced by the scope and format of the French Encyclopédie by Diderot et al. (see quotation).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: ἐγκύκλιος παιδείᾱ, ἐγκύκλιος, -
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɪnˌsaɪkləˈpidi.ə/
- British English: /ɪnˌsaɪkləˈpiːdi.ə/