What does agendum mean?
An agendum is a single item of business — one matter marked for discussion or decision at a meeting. It is best understood as the singular counterpart of 'agenda': although 'agenda' began life as the plural of the Latin 'agendum' ('a thing to be done'), English speakers came to treat 'agenda' as a singular mass noun covering the entire list, leaving 'agendum' as the formal term for any one entry on it. The word carries a distinctly formal, procedural tone and appears most often in minutes, parliamentary documents, board reports, and academic writing, where writers may number each agendum separately. In ordinary conversation, people almost always say 'item' or 'point' instead, so encountering 'agendum' signals an official or deliberately precise register. Its root lies in the Latin verb 'agere' ('to do, to drive'), making it a cousin of words like 'agent' and 'act'. Though rarely used today, it remains grammatically useful whenever a writer needs to refer to one discrete piece of meeting business rather than the schedule as a whole.
nounAn item to be discussed or acted upon at a meeting; a single matter of business. In modern usage it appears chiefly as the singular form corresponding to the collective plural 'agenda'.
- A single item of business to be discussed or transacted at a meeting.
- (Rare, historical) A thing that ought to be done; a task.
"The first agendum at Monday's board meeting was the proposed budget revision."
"The committee tabled the final agendum until more data could be gathered."
"Each agendum on the list was allotted fifteen minutes of discussion time."
Historically the plural of 'agendum' is 'agenda', but because 'agenda' is now used as a singular mass noun for a whole list, writers needing an explicit plural often use 'agendums' instead to avoid ambiguity.
"The secretary filed the agendums from all three subcommittee meetings."
Every 'agenda' you've ever sat through was technically a pile of 'agenda' — the plural of a word most people have never heard: agendum.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of agendum
Agendum comes directly from Latin, where it was the neuter singular gerundive of 'agere', meaning 'to do, drive, or conduct' — literally 'a thing that must be done'. Its plural, 'agenda', entered English in the seventeenth century as a term for items of ecclesiastical or judicial business, and by the nineteenth century 'agenda' had been reinterpreted as a singular noun denoting a list. This left 'agendum' available in English as the formal singular for a single item of business, a role it still occupies in legal and parliamentary usage. It shares its root with 'agent', 'agile', and 'act', all descendants of 'agere'.
Related word forms
How agendum is actually used
Formal and somewhat old-fashioned in register; in everyday speech speakers usually say 'item' or 'point' rather than 'agendum', reserving 'agenda' for the list as a whole. The word survives mainly in legal, parliamentary, and academic contexts where precision about individual items matters.
Easily confused with agendum
'Agenda' is the plural of 'agendum' in origin but now functions as a singular mass noun meaning the whole list of items, while 'agendum' refers to one individual item on that list.