En-cÿ'clo-pē'di-ä or En-cÿ'clo-pæ'di-ä, n.

n. [Gr. ἐγκυκλοπαιδεία, for ἐγκύκλιος παιδεία, instruction in a circle, or circle of instruction; Fr. encyclopédie. See CYCLOPEDIA, and supra.] [Formerly written encyclopædy and encyclopædy.] The circle of sciences; a general survey of human knowledge; especially, a work in which the various branches of science or art are discussed separately, and usually in alphabetical order; a cyclopedia.

The word encyclopædia implies the unity and circularity of knowledge—that it has one common central principle, which is at once constitutive and regulative. Hare.