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Added 9 October 2026

biology

/baɪˈɒl.ə.d͡ʒi/ noun

In Latin: biologia First recorded: 1799 Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about biology at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

The study of all life or living matter.
The living organisms of a particular region.
The structure, function, and behavior of an organism or type of organism.
the biology of the whale

Origin

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.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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