-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.

odontology
oenologist, enologist (ee NAH luh jist) (s) (noun), oenologists, enologists (pl)
Someone who is a specialist in producing the qualities of different kinds of wines via vinification: An oenologist converts grape juice into wine by means of special fermentation.
oenology, enology (ee NAH luh jee) (s) (noun); oenologies, enologies (pl)
1. The science of viticulture or the cultivation of grapes for making wine: Oenology has developed as indicated from the earliest records kept by ancient civilizations and has developed a number of varieties.
2. The study of various kinds of wines:
  • Natural wines, also called beverage or table wines, come from juice pressed from grapes and that are allowed to ferment naturally perhaps with the addition of controlled amounts of yeast, sugar, or very small amounts of sulfur.
  • Fortified wines have a dosage of alcohol; such as, grape brandy during their vinification resulting in vermouths, sherry, Marsala, Madeira, or port.
  • Sparkling wines, like champagne, go through a double fermentation, the second one taking place in the bottle.
  • Wines are also classified by color when they are red, white, or pink.
—Compiled from information located in
Encyclopaedia Britannica; Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.;
William Benton, Publisher; Chicago; 1968; Volume 23; pages 577-578.
3. Etymology: from Greek oinos, "wine" + -logy, "science of, study of".
The study or knowledge of wines.
© ALL rights are reserved.

Go to this Word A Day Revisited Index
so you can see more of Mickey Bach's cartoons.

oikology
1. The study or science of housekeeping.
2. The science of the home; home economics.
3. The science of homes; especially, with regard to the effect on the health of the occupants.
olfactology (s) (noun), olfactologies (pl)
The scientific study of the sense of smelling.
ombrologist (s) (noun), ombrologists (pl)
A specialist who analyzes rain conditions and how they affect the environment.
ombrology (s) (noun), ombrologies (pl)
That field of meteorology which deals with the various phases of rain before and during such activities.
omicron (microbiology)
In microbiology, a Gram-negative bacterial endosymbiont that is found in the cytoplasm of species of the aquatic ciliate Euplotes (a genus of ciliate protozoa having a dorsoventrally flattened body with widely spaced rows of short bristle-like cilia, simple microscopic organism with projecting threads that thrash to help it to move along, on the dorsal surface).
oncologist, cancerologist
A doctor who specialises in the diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of individuals suffering with cancer.
oncology (s) (noun) (usually no plural)
The branch of medical science dealing with malignant diseases, including the origin, development, diagnosis, and treatment of tumors and deadly cancer.
oneirologist
A specialist in oneirology or the study and interpretation of dreams.
oneirology
The scientific study of dreams.
onomasiology
1. Onomasiology is the branch of lexicology that departs from a concept or a referent and asks for the names bestowed to it by different speech communities.
2. The study of names or naming; also, a branch of semantics concerned with related words and their meanings; the study of nomenclature.

Onomasiology is central to human interest in language. Due to the rich quantity of modern linguistic working materials; such as, dialect dictionaries, minutely compiled corpora etc., onomasiological studies can and must investigate small dialect areas in a detailled way in order to gain valuable insights into the processes of naming and name-changing.

Onomasiologists need good bibliographies, encyclopaedias, and some type of coherent linguistic data base to come up with comprehensive results.

onomatologist
Someone who is versed or is a specialist in the history of names.
onomatology
The study and science of names or their nomenclature and their classifications.
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-.