-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.

pharmacoendocrinology
1. The study of the influence of drugs on the activity of the endocrine glands and of the effects of very high levels of hormones on organs and tissues.
2. The study of the medicinal use of hormones.
pharmacologist
1. A person who makes a study of the actions of drugs.
2. A specialist in pharmacology.
pharmacology
1. The study of the action of medicinal drugs and other biologically active chemicals.
2. The science that deals with the origin, nature, chemistry, effects, and uses of drugs; it includes pharmacognosy, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, pharmacotherapeutics, and toxicology.
pharmacology (marine)
A branch of pharmacology concentrating on the identification, isoloation, and development of drugs and pharmacologically active substances from aquatic plants and animals.
pharmacology [biochemical]
The branch of pharmacology concentrating on drug biotransformation and the biochemical aspects of drug metabolism and drug action at a cellular or subcellular level.
pharmacooryctology
The study of mineral drugs.
pharyngology
phenology, phenomenology
1. Study of the temporal aspects of recurrent natural phenomena, and their relation to weather and climate.
2. The scientific study of cyclical biological events; such as, flowering, breeding, and migration, in relation to climatic conditions.
3. The recording and study of periodic biotic events, as flowering, breeding, migrations, etc., in relation to climatic and other factors.

Phenological records of the dates on which seasonal phenomena occur and which provide important information on how climate change affects ecosystems over time.

phenomenologist (s) (noun), phenomenologists (pl)
A phenomenological philosopher.
phenomenology, phenomenological, phenomenologically
1. A philosophy or method of inquiry based on the premise that reality consists of objects and events as they are perceived or understood in human consciousness and not of anything independent of human consciousness.
2. The way in which one perceives and interprets events and one's relationship to them in contrast both to one's objective responses to stimuli and to any inferred unconscious motivation for one's behavior; also, a psychology based on the theory that phenomenology determines behavior.
3. A philosophical doctrine proposed by Edmund Husserl based on the study of human experience in which considerations of objective reality are not taken into account.
philematology
1. A strong fondness for kissing or the art of kissing.
2. The art or science of kissing.
philologist (s) (noun), philologists (pl)
A person who studies written records, especially literary texts, in order to determine their authenticity, meaning, etc.: Originally, a philologist was one who loved literature and learning, and was dedicated to classical scholarship.
philology (s) (noun), philologies (pl)
The love of learning and literature: Judy was very interested in philology and decided to devote her time in the academic study of liberal arts and languages.
phlebologist
A medical specialist in the practice of phlebology.
phlebology
1. The branch of medicine that deals with veins and their diseases.
2. The study of the anatomy, physiology, and diseases of veins; also called venology.
3. The study of the veins and the diseases affecting them.
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-.