Encyclopedia

How to spell encyclopedia

12 letters · 6 syllables

How to pronounce encyclopedia

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does encyclopedia mean?

1. nounA comprehensive reference work containing articles on many subjects, usually arranged alphabetically or by topic.

Encyclopedia in a sentence

• She keeps an old printed encyclopedia on the bottom shelf of her study.

• The library replaced its bound encyclopedia with an online subscription service.

Where does encyclopedia come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word comes from the Greek phrase enkyklios paideia, which meant something like a 'well-rounded education' or the 'circle of learning' that a young person was expected to master. The first part, enkyklios, combined en 'in' with kyklos 'circle' (the same root that gives us 'cycle' and 'bicycle'), while paideia meant 'the upbringing or education of a child', from pais 'child'. Renaissance scholars writing in Latin ran the phrase together as a single word, encyclopaedia, and used it for a comprehensive survey of all knowledge. English adopted it in the sixteenth century, and by the eighteenth century it named the great alphabetical reference works we still picture today. The buried Greek paideia is the reason the middle of the word carries that -pedia spelling, which has nothing to do with feet (pes) and everything to do with teaching.

How the word is built

• en- (in)
• cyclo- (from kyklos: circle)
• -pedia (from paideia: education, child-rearing)

British and American spelling

Encyclopedia is the American spelling. British English spells it encyclopaedia.