colloquium

American  

[kuh-loh-kwee-uhm] / kəˈloʊ kwi əm /

noun

colloquiums, plural colloquia plural

1. a conference at which scholars or other experts present papers on, analyze, and discuss a specific topic.

---

colloquium British  

/ kəˈləʊkwɪəm /

noun

1. an informal gathering for discussion

2. an academic seminar

---

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• colloquia
  plural
• colloquiums
  plural

Etymology

Origin of colloquium

1600–10; < Latin, equivalent to colloqu ( ī ) ( col- col- ¹ + loquī to speak) + -ium -ium

Explanation

A colloquium is an academic conference or meeting. At a colloquium, you’ll spend a couple of days listening to lectures with a group of people who all know a lot about one particular subject. The root of colloquium is the Latin loqui, meaning “to talk, ” which is what people tend to do at a conference. If you’re attending a colloquium on hummingbirds, you’re going to meet a lot of biologists who talk about hummingbirds. If you’re giving a lecture at the same colloquium, you’d better hope you know a lot about hummingbirds or you might get run out of the conference!