Other forms: episodes
An episode is one instalment of a continuing series. The first episode, a two-part episode, watch the next episode.
It also means a single notable event in a longer story or life: an unhappy episode, the whole episode was forgotten. And in medicine an episode is one occurrence of an illness — an episode of chest pain — which is the standard clinical wording. Note that binge-watching has made episode a much commoner word than it was, and that a series in British English is what American English calls a season, which causes real confusion.
1nounepisodeOne instalment of a series.
“There are six episodes and each is an hour.”
2nounsingleA single event in a longer sequence.
“The whole episode was over in a fortnight.”
3nounoccurrenceOne occurrence of an illness or condition.
“She has had two episodes since the spring.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
episode is one part of a series.
Greek epeisodion meant something coming in besides — the part of a Greek play between two choral songs. It was originally the parenthetical bit, and it has ended up meaning the main unit of a story, which is a complete reversal.
Ancient Greek
ἐπεισόδιον — a parenthetic addition, episode
New Latin
*epīsodium
French
épisode
English, today
episode
Built from
From French épisode, from New Latin epīsodium, from Ancient Greek ἐπεισόδιον (“a parenthetic addition, episode”), neuter of ἐπεισόδιος (“following upon the entrance, coming in besides, adventitious”), from ἐπί (“on”) + εἰς (“into”) + ὁδός (“way”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA