English

biology

Biology comes from New Latin biologia, coined from Ancient Greek βίος ‘life’ + -λογία ‘study’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷeyh₃- ‘to live’.

Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷeyh₃-‘to live’reconstructed
Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEβίος‘life’
New Latinc. 1500–1900biologia‘biology’
Englishearliest quotation 1893biology

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷeyh₃-‘to live’reconstructed
Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEβίος‘life’
New Latinc. 1500–1900biologia‘biology’
Englishearliest quotation 1893biology

Earliest quotation: 1893, Prizes for original work with the microscope: “The object of these prizes is to stimulate and…”

first attested In English, first attested in the modern meaning in the work of English physician Thomas Beddoes in 1799 (as stated in the etymology)

The story

In English, first attested in the modern meaning in the work of English physician Thomas Beddoes in 1799. The term is also recorded in the sense of a biographical history in the work of Dudley Loftus in 1686, but this is considered by the Oxford English Dictionary to be an isolated use. The modern Greek βιολογία (viología) is borrowed from the English term and French biologie via international scientific vocabulary.