compendium
/kəmˈpɛn.di.əm/noun
compendium is spelled C-O-M-P-E-N-D-I-U-M: 10 letters and 4 syllables. It appears 1.1 times per million words in written English, the 27,150th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, compendium means “A short, complete summary; an abstract” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of compendium is compendiums or compendia.
How many letters and syllables are in compendium?
| Letters | 10: C-O-M-P-E-N-D-I-U-M |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.1 times per million words; the 27,150th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is compendium?
Compendium appears 1.1 times per million words in written English, the 27,150th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce compendium?
- /kəmˈpɛn.di.əm/
Compendium has 4 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-compendium.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of compendium
- compendiums plural
- compendia plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does compendium mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A short, complete summary; an abstract.
- 2
A list or collection of various items.
- 3
A collection of board games packaged in a single box.
- 4
A collected body of information on the standards of strength, purity, and quality of drugs.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Compendium in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense short, complete summary:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | recueil, compendium |
| German | Kompendium |
| Spanish | compendio |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does compendium come from?
From the Latin compendium (“that which is weighed together; a sparing, a saving, an abbreviation”), from com- (“with”) + pendō (“to weigh”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).