sociology

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UK/ˌsəʊsiːˈɒləd͡ʒiː/UK/ˌsəʊʃiːˈɒləd͡ʒiː/US, dialectal/ˌsoʊsiˈɑləd͡ʒi/US, dialectal/ˌsoʊʃiˈɑləd͡ʒi/

noun

A social science that studies society, human social interaction, patterns of social relationships, and the interactions of culture. Through both theory and applied research, it engages subject matters across a range of microanalysis, mesoanalysis, and macroanalysis.

OriginFrench sociologie ← Latin socius ← Ancient Greek -λογία →
CommonScrabble 15
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Meanings

nounsociology (plural sociologies)

plural sociologies

  1. A social science that studies society, human social interaction, patterns of social relationships, and the interactions of culture. Through both theory and applied research, it engages subject matters across a range of microanalysis, mesoanalysis, and macroanalysis.

    Maisie says that Danny entered the manosphere through the realm of self-help, which Cynthia Miller-Idriss, a sociology professor at American University who specializes in extremism, says is “a great example of how radicalization works.”

    2024 November 20, Fortesa Latifi, “How These Men Left the Manosphere — and Why Some May Never”, in Teen Vogue

Origin

  1. Ancient Greekλόγος“word, knowledge”
  2. Ancient Greek-λογία
  3. Latinsocius“companion, fellowship”
  4. Frenchsociologie
  5. Englishsociology

From French sociologie, coined by Auguste Comte in 1834, itself a combination of Latin socius (“companion, fellowship”) and the Greek suffix Ancient Greek -λογία (-logía), itself from Ancient Greek λόγος (lógos, “word, knowledge”), from socio- + -logy. Previous mentions of the field in English usually referred to it as social physics.

More words from French, Latin, Ancient Greek

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Afrikaans sosiologie
  • sosiologiestudy of society, human social interactions, etc.
Arabic عِلْم الْمُجْتَمَع
  • عِلْم الْمُجْتَمَع (ʕilm al-mujtamaʕ)study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Basque soziologia
  • soziologiastudy of society, human social interactions, etc.
Bengali সমাজবিজ্ঞান
  • সমাজবিজ্ঞান (śomajbiggên)study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Bulgarian социоло́гия
  • социоло́гия (sociológija)study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Catalan sociologia
  • sociologiastudy of society, human social interactions, etc.
Chinese Cantonese 社會學 /社会学
  • 社會學 /社会学study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Chinese Mandarin 社會學 /社会学
  • 社會學 /社会学 (shèhuìxué)study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Czech sociologie
  • sociologiestudy of society, human social interactions, etc.
Danish sociologi
  • sociologistudy of society, human social interactions, etc.
Dutch sociologie
  • sociologiestudy of society, human social interactions, etc.
Esperanto sociologio
  • sociologiostudy of society, human social interactions, etc.
Estonian sotsioloogia
  • sotsioloogiastudy of society, human social interactions, etc.
Finnish sosiologia
  • sosiologiastudy of society, human social interactions, etc.
French sociologie
  • sociologiestudy of society, human social interactions, etc.
German Soziologie, Gesellschaftskunde
  • Soziologiestudy of society, human social interactions, etc.
  • Gesellschaftskundestudy of society, human social interactions, etc.
Greek κοινωνιολογία
  • κοινωνιολογία (koinoniología)study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Hebrew סוֹצִיוֹלוֹגִיָה
  • סוֹצִיוֹלוֹגִיָה (sotsyológya)study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Hindi समाजशास्त्र
  • समाजशास्त्र (samājśāstra)study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Hungarian szociológia
  • szociológiastudy of society, human social interactions, etc.
Icelandic félagsfræði
  • félagsfræðistudy of society, human social interactions, etc.
Indonesian sosiologi
  • sosiologistudy of society, human social interactions, etc.
Irish socheolaíocht
  • socheolaíochtstudy of society, human social interactions, etc.
Italian sociologia
  • sociologiastudy of society, human social interactions, etc.
Japanese 社会学
  • 社会学 (shakaigaku)study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Korean 사회학
  • 사회학 (sahoehak)study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Latin sociologia
  • sociologiastudy of society, human social interactions, etc.
Latvian socioloģija
  • socioloģijastudy of society, human social interactions, etc.
Lithuanian sociologija
  • sociologijastudy of society, human social interactions, etc.
Malay sosiologi, ilmu masyarakat
  • sosiologistudy of society, human social interactions, etc.
  • ilmu masyarakatstudy of society, human social interactions, etc.
Māori mātauranga hapori
  • mātauranga haporistudy of society, human social interactions, etc.
Norwegian Bokmål sosiologi
  • sosiologistudy of society, human social interactions, etc.
Persian جامِعِهشِناسی, سوسیولوژی
  • جامِعِهشِناسی (jâme'e-šenâsi)study of society, human social interactions, etc.
  • سوسیولوژی (sosiyoloži)study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Polish socjologia
  • socjologiastudy of society, human social interactions, etc.
Portuguese sociologia
  • sociologiastudy of society, human social interactions, etc.
Punjabi ਸਮਾਜ ਸ਼ਾਸਤਰ
  • ਸਮਾਜ ਸ਼ਾਸਤਰ (samāj śāstar)study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Romanian sociologie
  • sociologiestudy of society, human social interactions, etc.
Russian социоло́гия, обществове́дение
  • социоло́гия (sociológija)study of society, human social interactions, etc.
  • обществове́дение (obščestvovédenije)study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Scottish Gaelic eòlas-comainn
  • eòlas-comainnstudy of society, human social interactions, etc.
Slovak sociológia
  • sociológiastudy of society, human social interactions, etc.
Spanish sociología
  • sociologíastudy of society, human social interactions, etc.
Swahili sosholojia
  • sosholojiastudy of society, human social interactions, etc.
Swedish sociologi
  • sociologistudy of society, human social interactions, etc.
Tagalog sosyolohiya
  • sosyolohiyastudy of society, human social interactions, etc.
Tamil சமூகவியல்
  • சமூகவியல் (camūkaviyal)study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Thai สังคมวิทยา
  • สังคมวิทยา (sǎng-kom-wít-tá-yaa)study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Turkish sosyoloji
  • sosyolojistudy of society, human social interactions, etc.
Ukrainian соціоло́гія, суспільствозна́вство
  • соціоло́гія (sociolóhija)study of society, human social interactions, etc.
  • суспільствозна́вство (suspilʹstvoznávstvo)study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Urdu عِمْرانِیّات, سَماجِیات
  • عِمْرانِیّات ('imrāniyyāt)study of society, human social interactions, etc.
  • سَماجِیات (samājiyāt)study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Vietnamese xã hội học
  • xã hội họcstudy of society, human social interactions, etc.
Welsh cymdeithaseg
  • cymdeithasegstudy of society, human social interactions, etc.
Yiddish סאָציאָלאָגיע
  • סאָציאָלאָגיע (sotsyologye)study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Cite this entry
APA

sociology. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sociology

MLA

“sociology.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sociology. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sociology,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sociology.

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