Meanings
- uncountablebiologyThe study of molluscs.
[…]their chronogeny will long remain one of the most difficult problems in Malacology.
1850, William King, A Monograph of the Permian Fossils of England, published 2014, page 2012 more examples
But the circumstances which the Baron Cuvier† so justly adduces as tending to retard the progress of Malacology in general, seem especially to have contributed to obscure the history of Nautilus Pompilius.
1832, Richard Owen, Memoir on the Pearly Nautilus, page 2The first steps in the age determination of mammals by the number of annual layers were made when, in ichthyology and malacology, it has already become to routine practice to use annual layers for ageing animals and for back-calculating the growth of individuals.
1995, Galina A. Klevezal, M.V. Mina, Recording Structures of Mammals, page 231Synonyms: malacozoology
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe study of molluscs.
Origin
- Ancient Greekμαλακός“soft”
- Frenchmalacologie
- Englishmalacology
From French malacologie, contraction of malacozoologie, from the (obsolete) taxonomic name Malacozoa + French -ologie (“-ology”), Malacozoa being in turn from Ancient Greek μαλακός (malakós, “soft”) + ζῷον (zōîon, “animal”). Equivalent to malaco- + -logy.
More words from French, Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian наука за мекотелите
- наука за мекотелите (nauka za mekotelite)study of molluscs
Catalan malacologia
- malacologiastudy of molluscs
Chinese Mandarin 軟體動物學 /软体动物学
- 軟體動物學 /软体动物学 (ruǎntǐdòngwùxué)study of molluscs
Dutch malacologie
- malacologiestudy of molluscs
Finnish nilviäistutkimus, malakologia
- nilviäistutkimusstudy of molluscs
- malakologiastudy of molluscs
French malacologie
- malacologiestudy of molluscs
German Malakologie
- Malakologiestudy of molluscs
Hungarian malakológia
- malakológiastudy of molluscs
Italian malacologia
- malacologiastudy of molluscs
Japanese 軟体動物学
- 軟体動物学 (nantaidōbutsugaku)study of molluscs
Korean 연체동물학
- 연체동물학 (yeonchedongmulhak)study of molluscs
Polish malakologia, malakozoologia
- malakologiastudy of molluscs
- malakozoologiastudy of molluscs
Portuguese malacologia
- malacologiastudy of molluscs
Russian малаколо́гия
- малаколо́гия (malakológija)study of molluscs
Spanish malacología
- malacologíastudy of molluscs
Vietnamese nhuyễn thể học
- nhuyễn thể họcstudy of molluscs
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with malacology
Cite this entry
malacology. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/malacology
“malacology.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/malacology. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “malacology,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/malacology.
Source: malacology on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.