-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.

mixologist (s), mixologists (pl)
The art or skill of preparing mixed drinks: "This mixologist is so obsessed with the fusions and collisions of flavors and scents that he has converted part of his apartment into an ad hoc chemistry laboratory, a place where he straps on a gas mask and plays with vitals of essential oils."

"A mixologist has helped to create and to ease the morning after a night of drinking with special mixtures of flavors."

morphocytology
A branch of biology dealing with the study of the shapes or the forms of cells; especially, their structures and functions.
morphologist
A specialist who does research in the branch of biology that deals with structure and form.

It includes the anatomy, histology, and cytology of the organism at any stage or period of its life history.

morphology
1. A branch of biology that deals with the form and structure of animals and plants; especially, with respect to the forms, relations, metamorphoses, and phylogenetic development of organs apart from their functions.
2. The study of the form and structure of an organism considered as a whole; especially, the physical shape and size of a specimen, plant, or animal.
3. In linguistics, the patterns of word formation in a particular language, including inflection, derivation, and composition; the study and description of such patterns.
4. The study of the behavior and combination of morphemes.
5. Physical geography, geomorphology.
6. The form or structure of anything: "She wanted to gain an insight into the morphology of our political system."
7. The study of the form or structure of anything; such as, the anatomy of an animal.
muscology
musicologist
Someone who systematically studies music and musical style, particularly in the realm of historical research.

Today, the scope of musicology for a musicologist may be summarized as covering the study of the history and phenomena of music, including (1) form and notation, (2) biography, (3) the development of musical instruments, (4) music theory (harmony, melody, modes, etc.), and (5) aesthetics, acoustics, and physiology of the voice, ear, and hand.

musicology
The study of music as an academic subject, as distinct from training in a performance or a composition; such as, scholarly research into music.
mycetology
mycologist
Anyone; such as, a botanist who specializes in the study of fungi.
mycology
1. The branch of botany that specializes in the scientific study of fungi and fungus-caused diseases.
2. The study of the characteristics of a particular fungus.
myology
myrmecologist (s) (noun) myrmecologists (pl)
Someone or those who specialize in the study of ants.
myrmecology (s) (noun), myrmecologies (pl)
The scientific study of ants.
mythologist
1. A writer of myths.
2. One who is versed in myths or mythology.
mythology
1. That department of knowledge that deals with myths.
2. A group of myths that belong to a particular people or culture and tell about their ancestors, heroes, gods, and other supernatural beings and history.
3. The study of myths, or the branch of knowledge that deals with myths.

Pointing to a page about Latin and Greek gods and godesses. Mythological Roman and Greek deities with related images.

Cross references of word families related directly, or indirectly, to: "talk, speak, speech; words, language; tongue, etc.": cit-; clam-; dic-; fa-; -farious; glosso-; glotto-; lalo-; linguo-; locu-; logo-; loqu-; mythico-; ora-; -phasia; -phemia; phon-; phras-; Quotes: Language,Part 1; Quotes: Language, Part 2; Quotes: Language, Part 3; serm-; tongue; voc-.