biography

B1 Topic:People & Society

US /baɪˈɑɡɹəfi/ UK /baɪˈɒɡɹəfi/ See IPA manual

Freq #16485

Meanings

1

noun
The written story of a person's life.

She wrote a fascinating biography of Abraham Lincoln.
2

noun
The kind of writing that tells people's life stories.

He has spent his whole career working in biography.
3

verb
To write the life story of someone.

Several historians have tried to biography the famous queen.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · the written story of a... life

Word family

Forms biographies

Derived forms antibiographyautobiographybiographeebiographettebiographizebiomythographyblogographyheterobiographyminibiographyosteobiographyphotobiographypsychobiography

Related forms biographerbiographicalbiographismhagiographypathography

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

definitive biography
an account of someone's life regarded as especially complete and authoritative

Adjective + noun

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *gʷeyh₃-der. Ancient Greek βῐ́ος (bĭ́os) Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ- Proto-Hellenic *grə́pʰō Ancient Greek γράφω (gráphō) Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Ancient Greek -ᾱ (-ā) Ancient Greek -η (-ē) Ancient Greek γραφή (graphḗ) Ancient Greek -γρᾰφῐ́ᾱ (-grăphĭ́ā) Ancient Greek βιογραφίᾱ (biographíā)der. New Latin biographiabor. English biography Borrowed from New Latin biographia, from Ancient Greek βιογραφίᾱ (biographíā), from βῐ́ος (bĭ́os, “life”) + -γρᾰφῐ́ᾱ (-grăphĭ́ā, “writing”).

Topics

People & Society Literature & Storytelling

External links

# biography

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** /baɪˈɑɡɹəfi/
**IPA (UK):** /baɪˈɒɡɹəfi/
**Frequency rank:** 16485

## Meanings
1. The written story of a person's life.
2. The kind of writing that tells people's life stories.
3. To write the life story of someone.

## Examples
- She wrote a fascinating biography of Abraham Lincoln.
- He has spent his whole career working in biography.
- Several historians have tried to biography the famous queen.

## Derived Forms
- antibiography
- autobiography
- biographee
- biographette
- biographize
- biomythography
- blogography
- heterobiography
- minibiography
- osteobiography
- photobiography
- psychobiography

## Related Forms
- biographer
- biographical
- biographism
- hagiography
- pathography

## Roots and Affixes
- Affix: -graphy - writing

## Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *gʷeyh₃-der. Ancient Greek βῐ́ος (bĭ́os) Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ- Proto-Hellenic *grə́pʰō Ancient Greek γράφω (gráphō) Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Ancient Greek -ᾱ (-ā) Ancient Greek -η (-ē) Ancient Greek γραφή (graphḗ) Ancient Greek -γρᾰφῐ́ᾱ (-grăphĭ́ā) Ancient Greek βιογραφίᾱ (biographíā)der. New Latin biographiabor. English biography Borrowed from New Latin biographia, from Ancient Greek βιογραφίᾱ (biographíā), from βῐ́ος (bĭ́os, “life”) + -γρᾰφῐ́ᾱ (-grăphĭ́ā, “writing”).

## AI Etymology
Biography was borrowed from New Latin biographia, from Ancient Greek βιογραφίᾱ (biographíā), from βῐ́ος (bĭ́os, “life”) + -γρᾰφῐ́ᾱ (-grăphĭ́ā, “writing”). Biography's historical chain begins with Proto-Indo-European *gʷeyh₃- and Ancient Greek βῐ́ος (bĭ́os) and later passes through Ancient Greek γραφή (graphḗ), Ancient Greek -γρᾰφῐ́ᾱ (-grăphĭ́ā), Ancient Greek βιογραφίᾱ (biographíā), New Latin biographia, English biography.

## Topics
- People & Society
- Literature & Storytelling

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