Meanings
plural terminologies
- countableuncountableA treatise on terms, especially those used in a specialised field.
- countableuncountableThe set of terms actually used in any business, art, science, or the like; nomenclature; technical terms.
Language is always changing — but it shouldn’t become inflexible, especially when new terminologies, in the name of inclusion, sometimes wind up making others feel excluded.
2022 October 23, Pamela Paul, “Let’s Say Gay”, in The New York Times2 more examples
Ad for advertisement is struggling hard for general recognition; some of its compounds, e. g., ad-writer, want-ad, display-ad, ad-card, ad-rate, column-ad and ad-man, are already accepted in technical terminology.
[1921 [1919], H. L. Mencken, chapter 27, in The American Language, 2nd edition, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, →ISBN, →OCLC[The researchers] noticed many of their pieces of [plastic marine] debris sported surface pits around two microns across.[…]Closer examination showed that some of these pits did, indeed, contain bacteria, and that in several cases these bacteria were dividing and thus, by the perverse arithmetic of biological terminology, multiplying.
2013 July 20, “Welcome to the plastisphere”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845 - countableuncountableThe scientific study of such terms.
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna system of words used to name things in a particular discipline
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Ancient Greek-λογία“-logy, branch of study, to speak”
- Medieval Latinterminus“a term”
- New Latinterminologia
- GermanTerminologie
- Frenchterminologie
- Englishterminology
From French terminologie or German Terminologie and their source, New Latin terminologia, from Medieval Latin terminus (“a term”) + -ologia (“study of”), from -o- (“(interconsonantal)”) + -logia, from Ancient Greek -λογία (-logía, “-logy, branch of study, to speak”).
More words from French, German, New Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic عِلْمُ المُصْطَلَحِ, مُصْطَلَح
- عِلْمُ المُصْطَلَحِ (ʕilmu l-muṣṭalaḥi)treatise on terms
- مُصْطَلَح (muṣṭalaḥ)terms used in any business, art, etc
Bengali পরিভাষা
- পরিভাষা (poribhaśa)terms used in any business, art, etc
Bulgarian терминоло́гия, терминоло́гия
- терминоло́гия (terminológija)treatise on terms
- терминоло́гия (terminológija)terms used in any business, art, etc
Catalan terminologia, terminologia
- terminologiatreatise on terms
- terminologiaterms used in any business, art, etc
Chinese Mandarin 術語學 /术语学, 用語 /用语
- 術語學 /术语学 (shùyǔxué)treatise on terms
- 用語 /用语 (yòngyǔ)terms used in any business, art, etc
- 術語 /术语 (shùyǔ)terms used in any business, art, etc
Czech terminologie, názvosloví
- terminologietreatise on terms
- názvoslovíterms used in any business, art, etc
- terminologieterms used in any business, art, etc
Danish terminologi, terminologi
- terminologitreatise on terms
- terminologiterms used in any business, art, etc
Dutch terminologie, terminologie
- terminologietreatise on terms
- terminologieterms used in any business, art, etc
Esperanto terminologio
- terminologiotreatise on terms
Estonian terminoloogia, terminoloogia
- terminoloogiatreatise on terms
- terminoloogiaterms used in any business, art, etc
Finnish terminologia, termistö
- terminologiatreatise on terms
- termistöterms used in any business, art, etc
- käsitteistöterms used in any business, art, etc
- terminologiaterms used in any business, art, etc
French terminologie, terminologie
- terminologietreatise on terms
- terminologieterms used in any business, art, etc
German Terminologie, Terminologie
- Terminologietreatise on terms
- Terminologieterms used in any business, art, etc
- Fachspracheterms used in any business, art, etc
Greek ορολογία, ορολογία
- ορολογία (orología)treatise on terms
- ορολογία (orología)terms used in any business, art, etc
Hebrew טֶרְמִינוֹלוֹגְיָה
- טֶרְמִינוֹלוֹגְיָה (terminológya)treatise on terms
Hindi शब्दावली, शब्दावली
- शब्दावली (śabdāvlī)treatise on terms
- शब्दावली (śabdāvlī)terms used in any business, art, etc
- पारिभाषिकी (pāribhāṣikī)terms used in any business, art, etc
Hungarian terminológia, szaknyelv
- terminológiatreatise on terms
- szaknyelvterms used in any business, art, etc
- szakkifejezésekterms used in any business, art, etc
Icelandic íðorðafræði
- íðorðafræðiterms used in any business, art, etc
Indonesian terminologi, peristilahan
- terminologitreatise on terms
- peristilahantreatise on terms
- terminologiterms used in any business, art, etc
- peristilahanterms used in any business, art, etc
Irish téarmaíocht
- téarmaíochtterms used in any business, art, etc
Italian terminologia, terminologia
- terminologiatreatise on terms
- terminologiaterms used in any business, art, etc
Japanese 用語, 専門語
- 用語 (yōgo)terms used in any business, art, etc
- 専門語 (semmongo)terms used in any business, art, etc
- 術語 (jutsugo)terms used in any business, art, etc
Korean 술어학, 전문 용어
- 술어학 (sureohak)treatise on terms
- 전문 용어 (jeonmun yong'eo)terms used in any business, art, etc
- 용어 (yong'eo)terms used in any business, art, etc
- 전문어 (jeonmuneo)terms used in any business, art, etc
Latvian terminoloģija, terminoloģija
- terminoloģijatreatise on terms
- terminoloģijaterms used in any business, art, etc
Lithuanian terminologija, terminologija
- terminologijatreatise on terms
- terminologijaterms used in any business, art, etc
- terminijaterms used in any business, art, etc
Malay terminologi, peristilahan
- terminologitreatise on terms
- peristilahantreatise on terms
- terminologiterms used in any business, art, etc
- peristilahanterms used in any business, art, etc
Norwegian Bokmål terminologi, terminologi
- terminologitreatise on terms
- terminologiterms used in any business, art, etc
Polish terminologia, terminologia
- terminologiatreatise on terms
- terminologiaterms used in any business, art, etc
Portuguese terminologia, terminologia
- terminologiatreatise on terms
- terminologiaterms used in any business, art, etc
Romanian terminologie, terminologie
- terminologietreatise on terms
- terminologieterms used in any business, art, etc
Russian терминоло́гия, терминоло́гия
- терминоло́гия (terminológija)treatise on terms
- терминоло́гия (terminológija)terms used in any business, art, etc
Slovak terminológia, názvoslovie
- terminológiatreatise on terms
- názvoslovieterms used in any business, art, etc
- terminológiaterms used in any business, art, etc
Spanish terminología, terminología
- terminologíatreatise on terms
- terminologíaterms used in any business, art, etc
Swahili istilahi
- istilahiterms used in any business, art, etc
Swedish terminologi, terminologi
- terminologitreatise on terms
- terminologiterms used in any business, art, etc
Tagalog katawagan, katawagan
- katawagantreatise on terms
- katawaganterms used in any business, art, etc
- tawagterms used in any business, art, etc
Thai ศัพท์เฉพาะ
- ศัพท์เฉพาะ (sàp-chà-pɔ́)terms used in any business, art, etc
Turkish terminoloji
- terminolojiterms used in any business, art, etc
Ukrainian терміноло́гія, терміноло́гія
- терміноло́гія (terminolóhija)treatise on terms
- терміноло́гія (terminolóhija)terms used in any business, art, etc
Urdu اِصْطِلاحات
- اِصْطِلاحات (istilāhāt)terms used in any business, art, etc
Cite this entry
terminology. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/terminology
“terminology.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/terminology. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “terminology,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/terminology.
Source: terminology on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.