encyclopedia
pronunciation
How to pronounce encyclopedia in British English:
UK [ɪnˌsaɪkləˈpiːdiə]
How to pronounce encyclopedia in American English:
US [ɪnˌsaɪkləˈpiːdiə]
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- Noun:
- a reference work (often in several volumes) containing articles on various topics (often arranged in alphabetical order) dealing with the entire range of human knowledge or with some particular specialty
Word Origin
- encyclopedia
- encyclopedia: [16] Etymologically, encyclopedia means ‘general education’. It is a medieval formation, based on the Greek phrase egkúklios paideíā (egkúklios, a compound adjective formed from the prefix en- ‘in’ and kúklos ‘circle’ – source of English cycle – meant originally ‘circular’, and hence ‘general’, and is the ultimate source of English encyclical [17]; paideíā ‘education’ was a derivative of país ‘boy, child’, which has given English paederast [18], paedophilia [20], pedagogue [14], pedant [16], and paediatrician [20]).This referred to the general course of education which it was customary to give a child in classical Greece, and after it was merged into a single word egkuklopaideíā and transmitted via medieval Latin encyclopedia into English, it retained that meaning at first. However, in the 17th century the term began to be applied to compendious reference works (the first, or at least the one which did most to establish the name, was perhaps that of J H Alsted in 1632).The Encyclopedia Britannica was first published in 1768.=> cycle, encyclical, paederast, pedagogue, pedant, pediatrician
- encyclopedia (n.)
- 1530s, "general course of instruction," from Modern Latin encyclopaedia (c. 1500), thought to be a false reading by Latin authors of Greek enkyklios paideia taken as "general education," but literally "training in a circle," i.e. the "circle" of arts and sciences, the essentials of a liberal education; from enkyklios "circular," also "general" (from en "in;" see in + kyklos "circle;" see cycle (n.)) + paideia "education, child-rearing," from pais (genitive paidos) "child" (see pedo-). Modern sense of "reference work arranged alphabetically" is from 1640s, often applied specifically to the French "Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des Sciences, des Arts, et des Métiers" (1751-65). Related: Encyclopedist.
Synonym
Example
- 1. He now plans to publish an encyclopedia of modern arab art .
- 2. The encyclopedia britannica suggests it does .
- 3. Want to try this encyclopedia ?
- 4. My childhood was richer because we had an encyclopedia at home .
- 5. The museum was founded 250 years ago as an encyclopedia of nature and of art .