Meanings
nounbiography (countable and uncountable, plural biographies)
plural biographies
- countableA person's life story, especially one published.
There are many biographies of Benjamin Franklin.
- uncountableThe art of writing this kind of story.
She is best known for biography and history, but she is also a novelist.
verbbiography (third-person singular simple present biographies, present participle biographying, simple past and past participle biographied)
present singular third person biographies · participle present biographying · participle past biographied · past biographied
- transitiveTo write a biography of.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounan account of the series of events making up a person's life
Similar
Also see
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*gʷeyh₃-
- Ancient Greekβίος (bíos)
- Proto-Indo-European*gerbʰ-
- Proto-Hellenic*grə́pʰō
- Ancient Greekγρᾰ́φω (grắphō)
- Ancient Greekγραφή (graphḗ)
- Ancient Greekβιογραφίᾱ (biographíā)
- New Latinbiographia
- Englishbiography
Borrowed from New Latin biographia, from Ancient Greek βιογραφίᾱ (biographíā), from βίος (bíos, life) + -γραφία (-graphía, writing).
More words from New Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek βιογραφία
- βιογραφία (biographía)personal life story
Arabic سِيرَة, تَرْجَمَةُ ٱلْحَيَاةِ
- سِيرَة (sīra)personal life story
- تَرْجَمَةُ ٱلْحَيَاةِ (tarjamatu l-ḥayāti)personal life story
Bulgarian биогра́фия, животопи́с
- биогра́фия (biográfija)personal life story
- животопи́с (životopís)personal life story
Catalan biografia
- biografiapersonal life story
Chinese Mandarin 傳記 /传记
- 傳記 /传记 (zhuànjì)personal life story
Czech životopis
- životopispersonal life story
Danish biografi
- biografipersonal life story
Dutch biografie
- biografiepersonal life story
Esperanto biografio
- biografiopersonal life story
Estonian elulugu, biograafia
- elulugupersonal life story
- biograafiapersonal life story
Finnish elämäkerta
- elämäkertapersonal life story
French biographie
- biographiepersonal life story
German Biografie, Biographie
- Biografiepersonal life story
- Biographiepersonal life story
Greek βιογραφία
- βιογραφία (viografía)personal life story
Hebrew קורות חיים, סיפור חיים
- קורות חיים (korót khayím)personal life story
- סיפור חיים (sipúr khayím)personal life story
- ביוגרפיה (biyográfya)personal life story
Hindi जीवनी, जीवनकथा
- जीवनी (jīvnī)personal life story
- जीवनकथा (jīvnakthā)personal life story
- ज़िंदगीनामा (zindgīnāmā)personal life story
Hungarian életrajz, biográfia
- életrajzpersonal life story
- biográfiapersonal life story
Indonesian biografi
- biografipersonal life story
Irish beathaisnéis
- beathaisnéispersonal life story
Italian biografia
- biografiapersonal life story
Japanese 伝記
- 伝記 (denki)personal life story
Korean 전기
- 전기 (jeon'gi)personal life story
Latin curriculum vitae, biographia
- curriculum vitaepersonal life story
- biographiapersonal life story
Latvian biogrāfija
- biogrāfijapersonal life story
Lithuanian biografija
- biografijapersonal life story
Māori kōrero haurongo, kōrero koiora
- kōrero haurongopersonal life story
- kōrero koiorapersonal life story
- haurongopersonal life story
Norwegian Bokmål biografi
- biografipersonal life story
Persian زندگینامه
- زندگینامه (zendegi-nâme)personal life story
Polish biografia
- biografiapersonal life story
Portuguese biografia
- biografiapersonal life story
Punjabi ਜੀਵਨੀ
- ਜੀਵਨੀ (jīvnī)personal life story
Romanian biografie
- biografiepersonal life story
Russian биогра́фия, жизнеописа́ние
- биогра́фия (biográfija)personal life story
- жизнеописа́ние (žizneopisánije)personal life story
Scottish Gaelic beath-eachdraidh, eachdraidh-beatha
- beath-eachdraidhpersonal life story
- eachdraidh-beathapersonal life story
Slovak životopis
- životopispersonal life story
Spanish biografía
- biografíapersonal life story
Swedish biografi
- biografipersonal life story
Tamil வாழ்க்கை வரலாறு
- வாழ்க்கை வரலாறு (vāḻkkai varalāṟu)personal life story
Thai ชีวประวัติ
- ชีวประวัติ (chii-wá-bprà-wàt)personal life story
Turkish biyografi, yaşamöyküsü
- biyografipersonal life story
- yaşamöyküsüpersonal life story
- tercümeihâlpersonal life story
Ukrainian біогра́фія, життє́пис
- біогра́фія (biohráfija)personal life story
- життє́пис (žyttjépys)personal life story
Vietnamese tiểu sử
- tiểu sửpersonal life story
Welsh cofiant, bywgraffiad
- cofiantpersonal life story
- bywgraffiadpersonal life story
Yiddish ביאָגראַפֿיע
- ביאָגראַפֿיע (byografye)personal life story
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with biography
photographygeographybibliographypornographyfilmographydiscographyautobiographychromatographycryptographytopographyradiographytomographyoceanographytypographychoreographymammographycinematographyvideographycartographydemographyangiographylithographycrystallographyechocardiography
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
APA
biography. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/biography
MLA
“biography.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/biography. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “biography,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/biography.
Source: biography on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.