What does compendium mean?
Word: Compendium
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Compendium means a book that brings together facts, pictures or other information on one subject.
How do you spell compendium?
Syllables: com - pen - di - um
Tricky part: The ending is ium, with an i before the um; many pupils write eum or leave the i out altogether.
Watch out for: compendeum, compendum, compendiem
Memory tip: It ends just like stadium and medium: think of a stadium packed with facts, all squeezed into one book.
Compendium in a sentence
Example 1: Grandpa keeps a compendium of cricket records beside his armchair.
Example 2: The museum shop sells a compendium of the world's birds with drawings of hundreds of species.
Example 3: Our class put together a compendium of recipes from every family.
Fun Fact
English took compendium from Latin in the late 1500s. Its Latin sense was 'what is weighed together', and it later came to mean a saving or a shortening.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Insert the correct pair of letters to form a word:
c_mp_ndium
a) u, a
b) o, e
c) o, a
d) u, e
Show answer
b) o, e. It opens with com, as computer does, and the second gap takes an e.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the word in the sentence and choose it:
The school library bought a thick nemuomdicp of folk tales from every state.
a) completion
b) pandemonium
c) compendium
d) commodity
Show answer
c) compendium. Two m's, a p, a d and no a or t: only compendium uses exactly those letters.
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word compendium as used in the sentence:
Uncle Vikram's compendium of quiz questions kept our family busy all through the holidays.
a) collection
b) celebration
c) competition
d) conversation
Show answer
a) collection. A compendium gathers many things together in one place, and so does a collection.
Spell-o-Spell
Three of these words are misspelt. Choose the meaning of the one spelt correctly.
1. thesaures 2. glossery 3. compendium 4. antholagy
a) a book that groups words with similar meanings
b) a book of poems or stories by different writers
c) a list of hard words with their meanings
d) a single volume packed with information on one theme
Show answer
d) a single volume packed with information on one theme. Read the endings: anthology wants ogy, glossary wants ary and thesaurus wants us, which leaves compendium.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. What would you expect to find inside Meera's compendium of space?
a) one long story about a single astronaut
b) all sorts of information on planets and stars
c) a calendar of her school holidays
d) her marks from every science test
Show answer
b) all sorts of information on planets and stars
2. Which title best suits a compendium?
a) Rivers of the World: Facts, Maps and Photos
b) My Diary of the Summer Holidays
c) Tonight's Menu at the Corner Cafe
d) A Letter to My Pen Friend in Canada
Show answer
a) Rivers of the World: Facts, Maps and Photos
