encyclopedia

English

The National Scientific Publishers encyclopedia (Polish)

Alternative forms

encyclopaedia (Britain)
encyclopædia (archaic)

Etymology

From New Latin encyclopaedia (“general education”), from Renaissance Ancient Greek ἐγκυκλοπαιδεία (enkuklopaideía, “education in the circle of arts and sciences”), a mistaken univerbated form of Koine Greek ἐγκύκλιος παιδείᾱ (enkúklios paideíā, “education in the circle of arts and sciences”), from ἐγκύκλιος (enkúklios, “circular”) + παιδείᾱ (paideíā, “child-rearing, education”).

Pronunciation

(Canada) IPA^(key): /ənˌsəɪ.kləˈpi.di.ə/
(UK, 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)

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 as a four-volume encyclopedia of aviation topics.
(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, preferred in Canadian English, accepted in Australian and International English, and also very common in British English. It is more common than encyclopaedia, for example, in UK newspapers on Google News in 2009 by a 7:3 margin.

Derived terms

encyclopedic
encyclopedical
encyclopedic dictionary
encyclopedic fiction
encyclopedist
-pedia
walking encyclopedia

Related terms

paideia
Paidia
-pedia
pedo-

Translations

comprehensive reference with articles 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 (mawsūʿa), دَائِرَة مَعَارِف‎ (dāʾira(t) maʿārif)
Moroccan Arabic: موسوعة‎ (mawsūʿa)
Armenian: հանրագիտարան (hy) (hanragitaran)
Asturian: enciclopedia f
Azerbaijani: ensiklopediya (az), biliklik (South Azerbaijani)
Bakhtiari: دونسمندنامه‎ (dunismandnāma)
Baluchi: زانتنامہ‎ (zāntnāma), زانتگرد‎ (zántgird)
Basque: entziklopedia (eu)
Belarusian: энцыклапе́дыя f (encyklapjédyja)
Bengali: বিশ্বকোষ (bn) (biśẇkoṣ) এনসাইক্লোপিডিয়া (enôsaiklopiḍiya)
Brahui: zántgird
Breton: holloueziadur
Bulgarian: енциклопе́дия f (enciklopédija)
Burmese: စွယ်စုံကျမ်း (my) (cwaicumkyam:)
Catalan: enciclopèdia (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 百科全書／百科全书 (zh) (bǎikē quánshū), 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
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 (gyānkoṣ), 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 (ensiklopediä)
Khmer: វិជ្ជាសមោធាន (vɨccie saʔmaotʰien), សៀវភៅប្រជុំវិជ្ជា (siǝv pʰɨv prɑcum vɨccie)
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: encyclopaedia f, 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 (saṟvavijñānakōśaṃ), വിജ്ഞാനകോശം (ml) (vijñānakōśaṃ)
Maori: mātāpunenga
Mazanderani: دانشنومه‎ (dānišnuma)
Mongolian: нэвтэрхий толь (nevterxii tolʹ)
Nahuatl: centlamatilizamoxtli (nah)
Navajo: ínsadoobíídiiya
Northern Luri: دونسمنامٱ‎ (dunismnāma)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: encyklopedi (no) m
Nynorsk: encyklopedi m
Old Church Slavonic:
Cyrillic: єнкѷклопєдїꙗ f (enkü̏klopedija)
Ossetian: энциклопеди (ènciklopedi)
Pashto: پوهنغونډ‎ (ps) f (pohanγónḍ)
Persian: دانشنامه‎ (fa) (dânešnâmeh), دایرةالمعارف‎ (fa) (dâyerat-ol-ma'âref), دائرةالمعارف‎ (dâ'erat-ol-ma'âref), آنسیکلوپدی‎ (fa) (ānsiklopedi)
Polish: encyklopedia (pl) f
Portuguese: enciclopédia (pt) f
Romanian: enciclopedie (ro) f
Russian: энциклопе́дия (ru) f (enciklopédija)
Rusyn: енціклопе́дія 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 (entsiklopediya)
Telugu: విజ్ఞానసర్వస్వం (vijñānasarvasvaṁ)
Thai: สารานุกรม (th) (sǎa-raa-nú-grom)
Tigrinya: ኢንሳይክሎፐድያ (ʾinsaykəlopädya), መዝገበ ፍልጠት (mäzgäbä fəlṭät)
Turkish: ansiklopedi (tr)
Turkmen: ensiklopediýa
Ukrainian: енциклопе́дія f (encyklopédija)
Urdu: ^{(please verify)} جامع‎ (jāme), ^{(please verify)} قاموس‎ (ur) (qāmūs)
Uzbek: ensiklopediya (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