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encyclopedia

Etymology and origin of the English word encyclopedia

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ɪnˌsaɪkləˈpiːdi.ə/ (UK); /ɪnˌsaɪkləˈpidi.ə/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from New Latin encyclopaedia (“general course of instruction”),[2][3][4][5][6] thought to be a false reading of Greek enkúklios paideía “general education”,[2][3][4][6] literally “training in a circle”, the circle of arts and sciences of a liberal education,[4][6] from enkúklios “circular, general” and paideía “education”, from paîs “child”.[2][3][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A general course of instruction (1531).[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

Copyists of Latin manuscripts took the Greek phrase as a single word, which became Modern Latin encyclopaedia (c. 1500–08).[2][3][4] In Modern Latin it was used as the title of a reference work covering all knowledge,[2] and the modern sense, a reference work with articles on all branches of knowledge, appeared in English about 1630–44.[3][2][4][5] It was often applied to the great French Encyclopédie of Diderot and d'Alembert (1751–65).[4][6] Encyclopedic dates from 1824.[3]

Timeline

  • 1508 – Modern Latin encyclopaedia.[3]
  • 1531 – a general course of instruction.[2][3][4]
  • 1630–44 – a comprehensive reference work.[3][2][5]
  • 1824 – encyclopedic.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A comprehensive reference work with articles, usually in alphabetical order, on all branches of knowledge or on many aspects of one subject.

Word family

  • encyclopedic
  • encyclopedist
  • pedo-
  • encyclical
  • cycle
  • pedagogy
  • pediatric

Usage notes

Wiktionary notes that encyclopedia is the standard American spelling and also very common in Britain, while Oxford spelling prefers encyclopaedia.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Encyclopedia.” Etymologically, 11 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/encyclopedia. Accessed 11 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·