didactic

WOTD – 26 April 2010    

See also didàctic

English

Alternative forms

• didactick (obsolete)

Etymology

From Ancient Greek διδακτικός (didaktikos, “skilled in teaching”), from διδακτός (didaktos, “taught, learnt”), from διδάσκω (didaskō, “I teach, educate”)

Pronunciation

• enPR: dī-dăkˈtĭk, IPA: /daɪˈdæk.tɪk/

Adjective

didactic (comparative more didactic, superlative most didactic)

1. Instructive or intended to teach or demonstrate, especially with regard to morality. (I.e., didactic poetry)
   • Macaulay

     The finest didactic poem in any language.

2. Excessively moralizing.
3. (medicine) Teaching from textbooks rather than laboratory demonstration and clinical application.

Derived terms

• didact
• didactical
• didactically
• didacticism

Translations

instructive or intended to teach or demonstrate

• Catalan: didàctic (ca)
• Danish: didaktisk (da), belærende (da)
• Finnish: didaktinen (fi), opettavainen (fi)
• French: didactique (fr)
• German: didaktisch (de)
• Italian: didattico (it)

• Norwegian: didaktisk (no)
• Russian: наставнический (ru) (nastavničeskij), нравоучительный (ru) (nravoučitelʹnyj), дидактический (ru) (didaktičeskij),
• Serbo-Croatian: didàktičkī (sh)
• Spanish: didáctico (es)
• Swedish: didaktisk (sv)
• Turkish: eğitici (tr), eğitsel (tr), didaktik (tr), öğretici (tr), öğretsel (tr)

excessively moralizing

• Danish: didaktisk (da), docerende (da)

• Russian: нравоучительный (ru) (nravoučitelʹnyj)

teaching from textbooks rather than laboratory demonstration and application

• Catalan: didàctic (ca)
• French: livresque (fr)

• Turkish: öğretici (tr)

Noun

didactic (plural didactics)

1. (archaic) A treatise on teaching or education.

Translations

treatise on teaching