Word.ws English Dictionary

-ology

Syllables: -o·lo·gy/ˈɒləd͡ʒi/US/ˈɑləd͡ʒi/

-ology suffix: added to an ordinary English word to create a name for a (possibly non-existent) field of study. Also the alternative form of -logy.

Suffix

-ology

  1. (humorous, often) added to an ordinary English word to create a name for a (possibly non-existent) field of study.
    • Qell, he knows all about mineralogy, and geology, and astrology, and every thing a'most, except what he ought to know, and that is dollar-ology.1843, Thomas Chandler Haliburton, The Attache; or, Sam Slick in England
    • ...so long as a mere human word-ology is suffered to remain here, clogging all with its deadly impotence...1857, Delia Bacon, The Philosophy of the Plays of Shakespeare Unfolded

Also used as

-ology is also the alternative form of -logy.

-ology meaning in Thai, Vietnamese and Myanmar

-ology in Thai

branch of learning
ศาสตร์ sàat

-ology in Vietnamese

branch of learning
học nghiên cứu

-ology in Myanmar

branch of learning
ဗေဒ beda., ပညာ pa.nya

Examples of -ology in a sentence

  • It seems he'd been making original researches in anthropology, or folk-lore-ology, or something like that.1916, Jack London, The Little Lady of the Big House:
  • Yet it is interesting to research the tattoo-ology of Katona right after a yoga class.2010 October 17, Hadley Freeman, “Tattoos: what makes one spiritual and another Katona-esque?”, in The Guardian:

Origin of -ology

From -o- (interconsonantal vowel) + -logy.

Questions about -ology

What does -ology mean?
-ology means added to an ordinary English word to create a name for a (possibly non-existent) field of study.
What is -ology in Thai?
-ology in Thai is ศาสตร์ (sàat). See -ology meaning in Thai.
How do you use -ology in a sentence?
It seems he'd been making original researches in anthropology, or folk-lore-ology, or something like that.
What part of speech is -ology?
-ology is a suffix.
How do you pronounce -ology?
-ology is pronounced /ˈɒləd͡ʒi/ (UK).

Words near -ology in the dictionary

  1. -olatry
  2. -ole
  3. -olidine
  4. -oline
  5. -ologist
  6. -ology
  7. -olol
  8. -olone
  9. -oma
  10. -omas
  11. -omata

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: -ology (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl--ology.wav.

Cite this entry: “-ology.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/-ology. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.