<p>维基大典, as the comments shown, means Wikipedia</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>There are two ways for translation in Chinese. </p>
  
  <ol>
  <li><p>By their pronunciation</p></li>
  <li><p>By their function</p></li>
  </ol>
</blockquote>

<p>In the first part "Wiki" is translation by its pronunciation. Thus, </p>

<pre><code>"Wi" sound could be written as 维
"Ki" sound could be written as 基
</code></pre>

<p>While in the second part, "大典" is translated by its function.</p>

<p>Suffix "-pedia" is from the greek root paideia, meaning education, culture. And in English "-pedia" is for something that have a knowledgeable collection for something.  </p>

<pre><code>"大典" in Chinese equals to Encyclopedia. 

"典" in Chinese means a collection of influential and important works
</code></pre>

<p>So if you have a Chinese dictionary, you will find it is called </p>

<pre><code>eg.「字典」means word dictionary
</code></pre>

<p>ie. a collection of words with elaborations and meanings, and it is important for language learners.</p>

<p>It is also that's why "Wiki-pedia" could just get the name "Wiki" and "-pedia" is not directly translated by pronunciation as "大典" could already explain it.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-04-25T17:27:58.403Z
2017-04-25T17:27:58.403Z
Ryan
<p>维基大典 is a name of Wikipedia - Classical Chinese version.So it's The Encyclopedia writen in Classical Chinese.</p>

<p>Literal meaning, Great Collection in Wikipedia.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-04-17T18:43:48.890Z
2017-04-17T18:43:48.890Z
Kevman
<p>Hello I wanted to ask if someone knows the meaning of These characters:</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/rt8hc.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/rt8hc.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-03-31T09:48:30.737Z
@songyuanyao So this means `Chinese Wikipedia` ?
WasteD
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-04-26T03:10:02.840Z
Translating 'Wikipedia' to Chinese, but in ancient Chinese style, just like 永樂大典, an encyclopedia compiled at 永乐 (an emperor of Qing dynasty) era.
Daniel Yang
<character-identification>
Meaning of these characters
# Meaning of these characters

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-03-31)

Hello I wanted to ask if someone knows the meaning of These characters:

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/rt8hc.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/rt8hc.png)

**Tags:** character-identification

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: @songyuanyao So this means `Chinese Wikipedia` ?  
> **username_1**: Translating 'Wikipedia' to Chinese, but in ancient Chinese style, just like 永樂大典, an encyclopedia compiled at 永乐 (an emperor of Qing dynasty) era.  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2017-04-25. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

维基大典, as the comments shown, means Wikipedia

> There are two ways for translation in Chinese.
>
> 1. By their pronunciation
> 2. By their function

In the first part "Wiki" is translation by its pronunciation. Thus,

```
"Wi" sound could be written as 维
"Ki" sound could be written as 基

```

While in the second part, "大典" is translated by its function.

Suffix "-pedia" is from the greek root paideia, meaning education, culture. And in English "-pedia" is for something that have a knowledgeable collection for something.

```
"大典" in Chinese equals to Encyclopedia. 

"典" in Chinese means a collection of influential and important works

```

So if you have a Chinese dictionary, you will find it is called

```
eg.「字典」means word dictionary

```

ie. a collection of words with elaborations and meanings, and it is important for language learners.

It is also that's why "Wiki-pedia" could just get the name "Wiki" and "-pedia" is not directly translated by pronunciation as "大典" could already explain it.


---

### Answer by username_3 on 2017-04-17. Score: 0

维基大典 is a name of Wikipedia - Classical Chinese version.So it's The Encyclopedia writen in Classical Chinese.

Literal meaning, Great Collection in Wikipedia.


---

