encyclopedia

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. 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

Etymology

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).

In classic literature

Synonyms

cyclopedia, encyclopaedia, cyclopaedia

A single word — an entire dictionary opens.

Type a word, a sentence, a book title, or a link to an English article. WordNet and the Classics answer.

Try

A library of classics · a vault of words · instant etymology & meaning

Continue reading