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This article is about the type of reference work. For other uses, see Encyclopedia (disambiguation).

Brockhaus Enzyklopädie in 1902

An encyclopedia (also spelled encyclopaedia or encyclopædia) is a type of reference work, a compendium holding a summary of information from either all branches of knowledge or a particular branch of knowledge.[1]

Encyclopedias are divided into articles or entries, which are usually accessed alphabetically by article name.[2] Encyclopedia entries are longer and more detailed than those in most dictionaries.[2] Generally speaking, unlike dictionary entries, which focus on linguistic information about words, encyclopedia articles focus on factual information to cover the thing or concept for which the article name stands.[3][4][5][6]

Encyclopedias have existed for around 2,000 years; the oldest still in existence, Naturalis Historia, was written in ca. 77 CE by Pliny the Elder. The modern encyclopedia evolved out of dictionaries around the 17th century. Historically, some encyclopedias were contained in one volume, but some, such as the Encyclopaedia Britannica, became huge multi-volume works. Some modern encyclopedias are electronic and are often freely available, for example Wikipedia and Citizendium.

The word encyclopaedia comes from the Koine Greek "ἐνκυκλοπαιδεία",[7] from Greek "ἐνκύκλιος παιδεία",[8] transliterated "enkyklios paideia", meaning "general education" : "enkyklios" (ἐγκύκλιος), meaning "circular, recurrent, required regularly, general"[9] + "paideia" (παιδεία), meaning "education, rearing of a child".[10] Together, the phrase literally translates as "complete instruction" or "complete knowledge".

Indeed, the purpose of an encyclopedia is to collect knowledge disseminated around the globe; to set forth its general system to the men with whom we live, and transmit it to those who will come after us, so that the work of preceding centuries will not become...