-ology

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Suffix 1.2.1 Derived terms 1.2.2 Related terms 1.2.3 Quotations

[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

See “-logy”.

[edit] Suffix

-ology

1. Alternative form of -logy, used for phonological reasons when the preceding morpheme ends in certain consonant sounds.
2. (often humorous) added to an ordinary English word to create a name for a (possibly non-existent) field of study

[edit] Derived terms

• climatology
• endocrinology
• hematology

[edit] Related terms

• ology

[edit] Quotations

• 1843: Thomas Chandler Haliburton, The Attache; or, Sam Slick in England - well, he knows all about mineralogy, and geology, and astrology, and every thing a'most, except what he ought to know, and that is dollar-ology.
• 1857: Delia Bacon, The Philosophy of the Plays of Shakespeare Unfolded - ...so long as a mere human word-ology is suffered to remain here, clogging all with its deadly impotence...
• 1916: Jack London, The Little Lady of the Big House - It seems he'd been making original researches in anthropology, or folk-lore-ology, or something like that.