English Online Dictionary. What means biology? What does biology mean?
English
Wikibooks
Etymology
Borrowed from New Latin biologia (1766), itself from Ancient Greek βίος (bíos, “bio-, life”) + -λογία (-logía, “-logy, branch of study, to speak”). By surface analysis, bio- + -logy.
In English, first attested in the modern meaning in the work of English physician Thomas Beddoes in 1799. The term is also recorded in the sense of a biographical history in the work of Dudley Loftus in 1686, but this is considered by the Oxford English Dictionary to be an isolated use. The modern Greek βιολογία (viología) is borrowed from the English term and French biologie via international scientific vocabulary. Piecewise doublet of zoology.
Pronunciation
- enPR: bī-ŏl′-əjē
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /baɪˈɒl.ə.d͡ʒɪ/
- (General American) IPA(key): /baɪˈɑ.lə.d͡ʒi/, /baɪˌɑl(ə)ˈd͡ʒi/
- Rhymes: -ɒlədʒi
Noun
biology (countable and uncountable, plural biologies)
- The study of all life or living matter.
- Synonyms: life science, life sciences, lifelore (rare); see also Thesaurus:biology
- The living organisms of a particular region.
- The structure, function, and behavior of an organism or type of organism.
- (archaic) A biographical history.
Derived terms
Related terms
- biological
- biologically
- biologic
- biologism
- biologist
- biologize
Translations
See also
- Category:Biology