-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.

palae-ethnology, paleoethnology (s) (noun); palae-ethnologies, paleoethnologies (pl)
The study of the human races of fossil man.
palaeoclimatology, paleoclimatology (s) (noun) (no plural)
palaeoichnology, paleoichnology (s) (noun) (no plural)
The study of fossil animals and plants in order to deduce their ecology and the environmental conditions in which they lived
palaeopathology, paleopathology (s) (noun); palaeopathologies; paleopathologies (pl)
The study of the diseases of past periods or from previous times: Paleopathology pertains to the research of infections and afflictions in bodies preserved from ancient times, such as in mummies and in fossilised animals.
palaeornithology, paleornithology (s) (noun); palaeornithologies, paleornithologies (pl)
The science of fossil birds.
palaetiology
paleoanthropologist (s) (noun), paleoanthropologists (pl)
An expert or specialist in the study of fossil hominids or humans.
paleoanthropology (s) (noun) (no plural)
A branch of the study of humans that is concerned with the investigation of fossil remains in order to trace the development of certain physical characteristics prior to homo sapiens.
paleobiologist, palaeobiologist (s) (noun); paleobiologists, palaeobiologists (pl)
Someone who studies or is a specialist in the science of extinct plants, animals, and micro-organisms.
paleobiology (s) (noun), paleobiologies (pl)
The study of the life forms of extinct plants, animals, and micro-organisms: Paleobiology focuses on interpreting and reconstructing the life activities of fossil organisms.
paleoclimatologist
A geologist who studies climates of the earth's geologic past.
paleoclimatology
paleoecology
Ecology that deals with fossil organisms.
paleoethnology
That branch of ethnology that studies the most primitive races of mankind.
paleoicthyologist
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-.