hypnopaedia

See also: hypnopædia

English

Alternative forms

• hypnopædia (rare)
• hypnopedia (US)

Etymology

From hypno- (“sleep”) +‎ Ancient Greek παιδεία (paideía, “education”), popularized in the novel Brave New World (1932).

Noun

hypnopaedia (uncountable)

1. Teaching (or learning) by subconscious means.
   • 1932, Aldous Huxley, Brave New World‎^[1], London: Chatto & Windus:

     'In the end,' said Mustapha Mond, 'the Controllers realized that force was no good. The slower but infinitely surer methods of ectogenesis, Neo-Pavlovian conditioning and hypnopædia…'

   • 1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 454:

     Sometimes this Malay, a youngish man with a most charming smile, would be deferential to Crabbe, showing great anxiety to learn; at other times he would enter the office as though, in sleep, an angel had visited him, teaching him all in painless hypnopaedia.

Synonyms

• sleep-learning
• sleep-teaching

Related terms

• hypnopaedic

See also

• dormiphonics