-ology

-o·lo·gy
UK/ˈɒləd͡ʒi/Atlantic Canada, US/ˈɑləd͡ʒi/Australia/ˈɔləd͡ʒi/New Zealand[ˈɔ̟ləd͡ʒi]

suffix

added to an ordinary English word to create a name for a (possibly non-existent) field of study.

Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

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

    He gets an -ology and says he failed!

    1998, British Telecom advert from 1988 with Maureen Lipman - Ology
    4 more examples

    Qell, 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.

    1843, Thomas Chandler Haliburton, The Attache; or, Sam Slick in England

    ...so long as a mere human word-ology is suffered to remain here, clogging all with its deadly impotence...

    1857, Delia Bacon, The Philosophy of the Plays of Shakespeare Unfolded

    It seems he'd been making original researches in anthropology, or folk-lore-ology, or something like that.

    1916, Jack London, The Little Lady of the Big House

    Yet it is interesting to research the tattoo-ology of Katona right after a yoga class.

    2010 October 17, Hadley Freeman, “Tattoos: what makes one spiritual and another Katona-esque?”, in The Guardian

Origin

From -o- (interconsonantal vowel) + -logy.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 學 /学, 研究
  • 學 /学 (xué)branch of learning
  • 研究 (yánjiū)branch of learning
Czech -logie
  • -logiebranch of learning
Dutch -ologie
  • -ologiebranch of learning
Finnish -ologia
  • -ologiabranch of learning
French -ologie
  • -ologiebranch of learning
German -ologie
  • -ologiebranch of learning
Greek -ο--λογία
  • -ο--λογία (-logía)branch of learning
Hebrew ־ולוגיה
  • ־ולוגיה (-ológya)branch of learning
Hungarian -ológia, -tudomány
  • -ológiabranch of learning
  • -tudománybranch of learning
  • -tanbranch of learning
Indonesian -ologi
  • -ologibranch of learning
Italian -ologia
  • -ologiabranch of learning
Japanese 学
  • 学 (-gaku)branch of learning
Norwegian Bokmål -logi
  • -logibranch of learning
Polish -logia
  • -logiabranch of learning
Portuguese -ologia
  • -ologiabranch of learning
Romanian -ologie
  • -ologiebranch of learning
Russian -оло́гия
  • -оло́гия (-ológija)branch of learning
Spanish -ología
  • -ologíabranch of learning
Tagalog -olohiya
  • -olohiyabranch of learning
Tamil -இயல்
  • -இயல் (-iyal)branch of learning
Thai ศาสตร์
  • ศาสตร์ (sàat)branch of learning
Vietnamese học nghiên cứu
  • học nghiên cứubranch of learning
Welsh -eg, -oleg
  • -egbranch of learning
  • -olegbranch of learning
Cite this entry
APA

-ology. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/-ology

MLA

“-ology.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/-ology. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “-ology,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/-ology.

Source: -ology on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.