biology

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   characteristic life processes and phenomena of living organisms

   the biology of viruses

2. 2
   noun

   The study of all life or living matter.

   Near-synonyms: life science, life sciences; see also Thesaurus:biology

3. 3
   noun

   The living organisms of a particular region.

   The object of these prizes is to stimulate and encourage original investigation by the aid of the microscope in the biology of North America, and, while the competition is open to all, it is especially commended to advanced students in biology in such of our universities and colleges as furnish opportunity for suitable work.

4. 4
   noun

   The structure, function, and behavior of an organism or type of organism.

   the biology of the whale

5. 5
   noun

   A biographical history.

   That a Town has a biology of its own has been, since Freeman and Green, a familiar idea to us. But it was not in England, with its old established central governments, that the idea was likely to arise; and we know what the local history of our old antiquaries was like.

6. 6
   noun

   the science that studies living organisms

7. 7
   noun

   all the plant and animal life of a particular region

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *gʷeyh₃-der. Ancient Greek βίος (bíos) Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- Ancient Greek λόγος (lógos) Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-i-eh₂ Proto-Hellenic *-íā Ancient Greek -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā) Ancient Greek -λογῐ́ᾱ (-logĭ́ā)bor. New Latin -logia New Latin biologialbor. English biology Borrowed from New Latin biologia (1766), itself from Ancient Greek βίος (bíos, “bio-, life”) + -λογία (-logía, “-logy, branch of study, to speak”). By surface analysis, bio- + -logy. In English, first attested in the modern meaning in the work of English…