Compendium
/kəmˈpɛn.di.əm/noun
A concise summary or collection of essential information.
Did you know?Compendium comes from Latin compendium, originally meaning a saving or shortening, from compendere, literally “to weigh together,” so the word began as an idea of balance and compression before it became a book of knowledge.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*pend-
“to hang, weigh, or cause to weigh”
Latin
Latin
pendere
“to weigh; to hang”
Latin
Latin
compendere
“to weigh together; to save or make shorter”
Late Latin
Latin
compendium
“a saving, gain, or shortened form”
Middle English
English
compendie
“an abridgment or summary”
Modern English
English
compendium
“a concise collection or summary of information”