From New Latinencyclopaedia(“general education”), from (and likely through a misunderstanding of) Koine Greekἐγκυκλοπαιδεία(enkuklopaideía, “education in the circle of arts and sciences”), from Ancient Greekἐγκύκλιος παιδείᾱ(enkúklios paideíā, “education in the circle of arts and sciences”), from ἐγκύκλιος(enkúklios, “circular”), from κύκλος(kúklos, “circle”) + παιδείᾱ(paideíā, “child-rearing, education”), from παιδεύω(paideúō, “rear a child”) + -ίᾱ(-íā), from παῖς(paîs, “child”).
A comprehensivereference 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 was a four-volume encyclopedia of aviation topics.
Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for encyclopedia inWebster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)
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.
