biology
UK /baɪˈɒl.ə.d͡ʒi/ · US /baɪˈɑ.lə.d͡ʒi/ noun
Forms biologies
- noun The study of all life or living matter.
- noun The living organisms of a particular region.
- noun The structure, function, and behavior of an organism or type of organism. “the biology of the whale”
- noun (archaic) A biographical history.
Synonyms
lifelore life science life sciences biological science biota
Antonyms
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.
Webster’s 1913
- noun The science of life; that branch of knowledge which treats of living matter as distinct from matter which is not living; the study of living tissue. It has to do with the origin, structure, development, function, and distribution of animals and plants.
Etymology [Gr. life + -logy: cf. F. biologie.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “biology”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details