Encyclopedia
An encyclopedia (or "encyclopædia", "cyclopædia") is a collection (usually a book) of information about things humans know.
Word origin.
The word "encyclopedia" is Latin and comes from Greek. The words "εγκύκλιος παιδεία", "enkyklios paideia" mean "in a circle of teaching". It is from "εγκύκλιος", "in a circle" from "κύκλος" "circle" and "παιδεία", meaning "teaching".
The word "εγκύκλιος" can also mean "general": perhaps the people who made the Latin name "encyclopedia" did not understand the Greek word well. Perhaps the name should mean "general teaching".
In Canada and the UK, and some other countries affected by the British Empire, encyclopedia is spelt mostly as "encyclopædia".
History.
People have made encyclopedias for hundreds of years, but the name "encyclopedia" is from the 16th century.
Types of encyclopedias.
There are different types of encyclopedia. Some are general and have pages on lots of topics. The English language "Encyclopædia Britannica" and German "Brockhaus" are general encyclopedias. Some are about specific topics. For example, there are encyclopedias of medicine or philosophy. There are also some encyclopedias that have lots of topics with one point of view or one cultural bias. The "Great Soviet Encyclopedia" is one of these.
Many dictionaries have a different sort of information as encyclopedias. Examples are the Dictionary of National Biography, the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, and Black's Law Dictionary.
There are two main ways of organizing encyclopedias: from A to Z (the alphabetical way) or by categories. Most encyclopedias go from A to Z.
There are also printed encyclopedias, and encyclopedias in the computer, such as Wikipedia, the largest computer encyclopedia.
Encyclopedias.
The largest encyclopedia is Wikipedia in English, which has more than 2 million articles now. The second largest, is the Encyclopaedia Britannica, which is the largest one that is printed. Stacy Schiff, a writer, says that Wikipedia is not as good as other encyclopedias because anyone can change it, so some people may write things that are wrong. Also, the way that Wikipedia works means that there is likely to be bias. On the other hand, Tyler Cowen, an Economist, says that other non-fiction writing may also have the same problems.
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