Skip to content
WordPith

LOG: the Greek root meaning “word, study”

LOG comes from Greek and means “word, study”. You can see it in anthology, archaeology and astrology. WordPith uses it in 41 words.

Meaning
word, study
Origin
Greek
Type
Root
Also spelled
LOGUE
Word lists
Core Roots, MCAT / NCLEX / UCAT, Pharmacology, Psychology, Spelling Bee Roots, TOEFL / IELTS

Words built from LOG

ANTHOLOGY

anthology

A gathering of flowers, meaning of poems

Greek anthologia, a flower-gathering. The metaphor is nearly two thousand years old.

ARCHAEOLOGY

archaeology

The study of the past through what it left behind

Greek arkhaios, ancient.

ASTROLOGY

astrology

Reading the stars for signs about human lives

Star plus study. For centuries it was not separated from astronomy at all.

BIOLOGY

biology

The study of living things

Took hold around 1800, when naturalists needed one word for the science of life.

CHRONOLOGICAL

chronological

In order of time

Greek chronos, time. Chronic, anachronism and chronicle all keep time.

ECOLOGY

ecology

The study of living things and their surroundings

Home plus study. Coined in 1866 by Ernst Haeckel as the science of nature's household.

GEOLOGY

geology

The study of rocks and the Earth's structure

Earth plus study. The modern sense settled in the late 1700s.

IDEOLOGY

ideology

A system of ideas behind a political position

Coined in French in 1796 for the science of ideas; Napoleon made it an insult.

LOGICAL

logical

Following correctly from what came before

Greek logos, word and reason both.

METEOROLOGY

meteorology

The study of weather

Greek meteoron, a thing high in the air — which once meant any sky phenomenon.

MYTHOLOGY

mythology

The body of stories a culture tells about its gods

Greek mythos, a story.

PHARMACOLOGY

pharmacology

The study of what drugs do and how

Greek pharmakon, which meant both remedy and poison. The dose was always the difference.

PHYSIOLOGY

physiology

How the living body works

Greek physis, nature. Anatomy is the parts; physiology is what they do.

PSYCHOLOGY

psychology

The study of the mind and behaviour

Mind plus study. It spread in the 1700s as the science of the soul.

SOCIOLOGY

sociology

The study of societies and how they hold together

Comte built the word in 1838 from Latin socius and Greek logos, and was criticised for mixing them.

ZOOLOGIST

zoologist

Someone who studies animals

The same living things.

ZOOLOGY

zoology

The study of animals

Greek zoion, a living thing.

ANALOGY

analogy

A comparison that explains one thing by another

Greek analogia, proportion: reasoning again according to a ratio.

ANTHROPOLOGY

anthropology

The study of human societies and cultures

Human plus study.

BIOLOGIST

biologist

A scientist who studies living things

One who studies life. The -ist ending names the person behind the -ology.

CHRONOLOGY

chronology

Events arranged in the order they happened

Time plus study: the science of putting things in order by date.

COSMOLOGY

cosmology

The study of the universe as a whole

World plus study. Greek kosmos meant order first, and the ordered universe second.

CRIMINOLOGY

criminology

The study of crime

Latin crimen, a charge.

DERMATOLOGY

dermatology

The branch of medicine that deals with skin

Skin plus study.

EMBRYOLOGY

embryology

The study of development before birth

Greek embryon, a thing that grows within.

ETIOLOGY

etiology

The cause of a disease, and the study of causes

Greek aitia, cause. Idiopathic means the etiology is unknown, said politely.

GENEALOGY

genealogy

The tracing of a family's line of descent

Greek genea, a race or family, plus study.

HISTOLOGY

histology

The study of tissues under the microscope

Greek histos, a web or loom. Tissue is French tissu, woven: two languages, one metaphor.

HOMOLOGOUS

homologous

Corresponding in structure or origin

Greek homologos, agreeing.

HYDROLOGY

hydrology

The science of water on and under the ground

Water plus study.

METHODOLOGY

methodology

The study of methods, or the set of them a study uses

Greek methodos, a pursuit or way after. Meta plus hodos, road: the road taken after the thing.

PATHOLOGY

pathology

The study of disease

Suffering plus study.

PHRENOLOGY

phrenology

The discredited reading of character from skull bumps

Greek phren, mind, which first meant the diaphragm: the Greeks put thought in the chest.

SEISMOLOGY

seismology

The science of earthquakes

Shake plus study. Named in the 1850s, when the first systematic earthquake catalogues appeared.

THEOLOGIAN

theologian

Someone who studies religion

Greek theos, a god.

THEOLOGY

theology

The study of God and religious belief

God plus study, a word the medieval universities built their faculties on.

TOXICOLOGY

toxicology

The study of poisons and overdose

Greek toxikon, arrow poison, from toxon, a bow. Poison was what you put on arrows.

TRILOGY

trilogy

A set of three connected books or films

Three plus word: in Athens, three tragedies performed together.

AUDIOLOGY

audiology

The science of hearing and hearing loss

Hear plus study. A 20th-century coinage, from care for soldiers deafened in war.

PATHOPHYSIOLOGY

pathophysiology

How disease changes the working of the body

The study of function gone wrong.

More words with LOG: posology.

Quick check

1. Which word means: The study of animals?

2. Which word means: The discredited reading of character from skull bumps?

3. Which word means: Events arranged in the order they happened?

Roots that pair with LOG

Build anthology and more from LOG tiles

WordPith is a daily word puzzle: you get root tiles, you build the word. Free on Android, coming soon.

Coming soon to Google Play