-ology, -logy, -ologist, -logist
(Greek: a suffix meaning: to talk, to speak; a branch of knowledge; any science or academic field that ends in -ology which is a variant of -logy; a person who speaks in a certain manner; someone who deals with certain topics or subjects)
The word -ology is a back-formation from the names of certain disciplines. The -logy element basically means "the study of ____". Such words are formed from Greek or Latin roots with the terminal -logy derived from the Greek suffix -λογια (-logia), speaking, from λεγειν (legein), "to speak".
The suffix -ology is considered to be misleading sometimes as when the "o" is actually part of the word stem that receives the -logy ending; such as, bio + logy.
Through the years -ology and -logy have come to mean, "study of" or "science of" and either of these suffixes often utilize the form of -ologist, "one who (whatever the preceding element refers to)".
The examples shown in this unit represent just a small fraction of the many words that exist in various dictionaries.
2. Macroscopic, or gross morphology, as revealed by biochemical techniques.
2. The science of the relationship of climatic factors to the distribution, numbers, and types of living organisms (fauna and flora) of conditions of the natural environment (rainfall, daylight, temperature, humidity, air movement) prevailing in specific regions of the earth; an aspect of ecology.
2. The qualitative and quantitative study of communities of organisms.
2. Someone who favors, or specializes, in bioecology; such as, an ecologist.
2. The study of the environment and life history of organisms.
3. The study of the interrelations among living organisms in their natural environment; ecology.
2. The science of solution action in living tissue.
3. The study of the interactions between water, plants, and animals, including the effects of water on biota as well as the physical and chemical changes in water or its environment produced by biota.
2. The use or emphasis of biological principles or methods in explaining human social behavior.
2. A scientist who studies living organisms.
3. A scientist devoted to the study of organisms and their relationships to their environments and the underlying mechanisms that govern how those organisms work.
2. The science of physical life; the division of physical science that deals with organized beings or animals and plants, their morphology, physiology, origin, and distribution.
3. The study of living organisms, including their structure, function, evolution, interrelationships, behavior, and distribution.
4. The study of human life and living.
5. The study of the properties and history of living organisms and of their interactions with the non-living world.
Using physics as a model, biologists have attempted to find universal processes and properties of all organisms that can be applied to all forms, despite the apparent diversity of life.
Living organisms are affected by and affect the non-living world strongly. The study of the history of the earth and its atmosphere is inseparable from the study of biology.
