Encyclopedia is a Latin term. It means "to paraphrase a term paper."

The line is a sardonic joke about how students (or writers under deadline) sometimes use encyclopedias not as a starting point for research but as a shortcut—rewording an existing summary to produce something that looks original. By pretending that “encyclopedia” is a Latin term with a literal meaning, the speaker parodies etymological authority and academic pedantry, then undercuts it with a blunt confession of plagiarism-by-paraphrase. The humor depends on the mismatch between the lofty aura of classical languages and the mundane reality of term-paper corner‑cutting, implicitly critiquing shallow scholarship and overreliance on reference works.