Standard Lemma guide

syllabus

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • US: /ˈsɪləbəs/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɪləbəs
  • CMU ARPABET: S IH1 L AH0 B AH0 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A summary of topics which will be covered during an academic course, or a text or lecture.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: education

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The headnote of a reported case; the brief statement of the points of law determined prefixed to a reported case.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: law

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

an integrated course of academic studies

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • he was admitted to a new program at the university

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: course of study, program, programme, curriculum

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: information, info

Narrower terms: crash course, crash program, crash programme, reading program, degree program

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Medieval Latin syllabus (“list”), which arose from accusative plural syllabōs appearing as a corruption of sittybās (accusative plural of sittyba, from Ancient Greek σιττύβα (sittúba, “parchment label; table of contents”)) in a 1470s edition of Cicero's “Ad Atticum” IV.5 and 8, influenced by the stem of Ancient Greek συλλαμβάνω (sullambánō, “to put together”).

Across languages

Translations

57 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: կոնսպեկտ (konspekt) — summary of topics
  • Basque: syllabus — summary of topics
  • Bulgarian: програ́ма (prográma) — summary of topics
  • Catalan: temari — summary of topics
  • Catalan: currículum — summary of topics
  • Chinese Mandarin: 教學大綱 /教学大纲 (jiàoxué dàgāng) — summary of topics
  • Danish: studieplan — summary of topics
  • Dutch: leerstof — summary of topics
  • Dutch: stof — summary of topics
  • Dutch: syllabus — summary of topics
  • Finnish: oppisisältö — summary of topics
  • Finnish: kurssin sisältö — summary of topics
  • French: programme — summary of topics
  • French: syllabus — summary of topics
  • French: plan de cours — summary of topics
  • French: sommaire — summary of topics
  • Georgian: სილაბუსი (silabusi) — summary of topics
  • German: Lehrplan — summary of topics
  • German: Studienprogramm — summary of topics
  • German: Lehrprogramm — summary of topics
  • German: Syllabus — summary of topics
  • Greek: περίληψη (perílipsi) — summary of topics
  • Hebrew: סילבוס (silabus) — summary of topics
  • Hungarian: sillabusz — summary of topics
  • Icelandic: námsáætlun — summary of topics
  • Indonesian: silabus — summary of topics
  • Italian: programma — summary of topics
  • Japanese: シラバス (shirabasu) — summary of topics
  • Japanese: 教案 (kyōan) — summary of topics
  • Polish: program nauczania — summary of topics
  • Polish: syllabus — summary of topics
  • Polish: sylabus — summary of topics
  • Portuguese: programa — summary of topics
  • Portuguese: ementa — summary of topics
  • Russian: уче́бная програ́мма (učébnaja prográmma) — summary of topics
  • Russian: уче́бный план (učébnyj plan) — summary of topics
  • Russian: план — summary of topics
  • Russian: си́ллабус (síllabus) — summary of topics
  • Serbo-Croatian: на́ста̄внӣ про̀грам — summary of topics
  • Serbo-Croatian: nástāvnī prògram — summary of topics
  • Slovak: sylaby predmetu — summary of topics
  • Slovak: osnovy predmetu — summary of topics
  • Slovak: informačný list predmetu — summary of topics
  • Spanish: temario — summary of topics
  • Spanish: syllabus — summary of topics
  • Spanish: plan docente — summary of topics
  • Spanish: sílabo — summary of topics
  • Spanish: balotario — summary of topics
  • Swedish: studieplan — summary of topics
  • Tagalog: talapaksaan — summary of topics
  • Turkish: izlek — summary of topics
  • Turkish: izlence — summary of topics
  • Turkish: müfredat — summary of topics
  • Ukrainian: програ́ма (prohráma) — summary of topics
  • Ukrainian: навча́льна програ́ма (navčálʹna prohráma) — summary of topics
  • Urdu: نِصاب (nisāb) — summary of topics
  • Welsh: maes llafur — summary of topics
Real reading context

syllabus in complete knowledge articles