biology

Meaning

Noun

• 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.

Related

Similar words

• lifelore, life science, life sciences

Origin

• A classical compound (modern coinage), with components derived from Ancient Greek βίος + -λογία. The sibling cognates came into various European languages c. 1800 from a New Latin coinage biologia; the term *βιολογία did not exist in Ancient Greek (Greek βιολογία itself is borrowed from both English and French biologie). Since the advent of the scientific era, reanalyzable as a compound using the combining forms bio- + -logy.