-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.

potamologist
A specialist in the study of rivers.
potamology
potamology, potamological
In hydrology, the study of rivers.
primatologist (s) (noun), primatologists (pl)
A scientist who specializes in the branch of zoology that is concerned with the study of monkeys, the apes, and mankind, and their extinct predecessors: The famed primatologist, Dr. Travis, traveled extensively in the Americas, researching the common characteristics between Old World and New World monkeys.
proctologist
proctology
promorphologist
Someone who considers organisms and their parts geometrically.
promorphology
1. The branch of morphology that studies the forms of organisms from a mathematical point of view.
2. In biology, the morphology of organic forms with reference to mathematical figures or to a few fundamental types of structure.

The mathematical conception or geometrical treatment of organic forms.

protoarchaeology, protoarcheology (s) (noun) (no pl)
The study of prehistoric human artifacts and human fossils: At the site, Ray talked to a scientist in the field of protoarchaeology who told him a lot about man-made objects and fossilised remains of very early and primitive cultures.
protobiology
The phase of science dealing with life forms more minute than bacteria; such as, the ultraviruses and bacteriophages.
protozoology (s) (noun) (no pl)
The branch of zoology dealing with the study of protozoa: Protozoology is the area of research that focuses on single-celled parasitic organisms with flexible membranes and the ability to move.
psammologist
psammology
psephologist
A political scientist who specializes in the study of elections; an electoral analyst or commentator.
psephology
1. The study of voting patterns.
2. The study of public elections, and statistical analysis of trends in voting; loosely, the prediction of electoral results.
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-.