Word.ws English Dictionary

hoplology

hoplology noun: the study of the methods, behaviour, and technology involved in human combat, particularly weapons and armour.

Noun

hoplology (uncountable)

  1. The study of the methods, behaviour, and technology involved in human combat, particularly weapons and armour.
    • Some students of hoplology, the science of l'arme blanche (the sword), in the neighbourhood of my residence have entreated me to invoke the invaluable aid of 'N. & Q.' in matters of archæology to endeavour to trace the missing weapons.1891 March 7, anonymous author, “Wandsworth: The Sword House”, in Notes and Queries
    • It has often been a public misconception that the words "martial arts" refer to something exclusively Asian in nature. But history and hoplology (the science of weaponry and related combative systems) tell us that no race on the face of the earth has ever lacked for fighting techniques, […]1987 September, Paul Nurse, “Pankration: The Bloody, Brutal Art of Ancient Greece”, in Black Belt

Origin of hoplology

From hoplo- + -ology.

Words formed from hoplology

Questions about hoplology

What does hoplology mean?
Hoplology means the study of the methods, behaviour, and technology involved in human combat, particularly weapons and armour.
What part of speech is hoplology?
Hoplology is a noun.

Words near hoplology in the dictionary

  1. hoplolaimids
  2. hoplolatry
  3. hoplological
  4. hoplologist
  5. hoplologists
  6. hoplology
  7. hoplomachi
  8. hoplomachic
  9. hoplomachoi
  10. hoplomachos
  11. hoplomachus

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hoplology (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.

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