Meanings
plural rheologies
- countableuncountablenatural sciencesThe branch of physics that studies the deformation and flow of matter.
Curious as to whether other had explored the connection between Oreos and rheology, Owens found mention of a 2016 Princeton University study in which physicists first reported that indeed, when twisting Oreos by hand, the cream almost always came off on one wafer.
2022 April 19, Jennifer Chu, “MIT Engineers Introduce the Oreometer”, in MIT News
Origin
- Ancient Greekῥέω“flow”
- Englishrheology
Coined by American scientist Eugene C. Bingham in 1920, following a suggestion by a colleague, Markus Reiner; inspired by aphorism πάντα ῥεῖ (pánta rheî, “everything flows”) by Simplicius of Cilicia. Formed from Ancient Greek ῥέω (rhéō, “flow”) + -logy (“study of”, suffix ultimately from Ancient Greek). See also rheo-.
More words from Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan reologia
- reologiaphysics of the deformation and flow of matter
Chinese Mandarin 流變學 /流变学
- 流變學 /流变学 (liúbiànxué)physics of the deformation and flow of matter
Dutch reologie
- reologiephysics of the deformation and flow of matter
Finnish reologia
- reologiaphysics of the deformation and flow of matter
French rhéologie
- rhéologiephysics of the deformation and flow of matter
German Rheologie, Fließkunde
- Rheologiephysics of the deformation and flow of matter
- Fließkundephysics of the deformation and flow of matter
Icelandic flotfræði
- flotfræðiphysics of the deformation and flow of matter
Irish sreabheolaíocht, réa-eolaíocht
- sreabheolaíochtphysics of the deformation and flow of matter
- réa-eolaíochtphysics of the deformation and flow of matter
Italian reologia
- reologiaphysics of the deformation and flow of matter
Portuguese reologia
- reologiaphysics of the deformation and flow of matter
Romanian reologie
- reologiephysics of the deformation and flow of matter
Russian реоло́гия
- реоло́гия (reológija)physics of the deformation and flow of matter
Spanish reología
- reologíaphysics of the deformation and flow of matter
Tagalog paladaluyan
- paladaluyanphysics of the deformation and flow of matter
Tamil சடப்பாயவியல்
- சடப்பாயவியல் (caṭappāyaviyal)physics of the deformation and flow of matter
Vietnamese lưu biến học
- lưu biến họcphysics of the deformation and flow of matter
Cite this entry
rheology. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rheology
“rheology.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rheology. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “rheology,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rheology.
Source: rheology on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.