Ologies

Most of us who were around at the time, first heard 'ology' used as a word in its own right in a British Telecom television advertising campaign of 1987, when Beattie, played by Maureen Lipman, comforts her grandson (who's disappointed by his exam results): "You got an ology, you're a scientist!"

Despite Beattie's immortal words, not all ologies are all that scientific; hence the appearance of this page under General Knowledge.

Not all of them are ologies, either!

I've split them into two sections. In the first section you're given the ology and asked to name the subject, and in the second it's the other way round. Most of them can of course be asked either way round; these are just my suggestions for the best way to ask each one (depending on difficulty and/or preciseness of definition).

And – last but not least: if you must set questions on this subject, please make sure you know what you're asking. In November 2016 I was asked "Of what is 'spectrology' the study?" As one who did sciences to 'A' Level, I naturally answered "Colours". Incorrect: it's ghosts or apparitions.

The study of light dispersed according to its wavelength, by a prism, is of course more correctly called spectroscopy. Did the person who set the question know this? If so, then it's clearly a trick question and the setter should be ashamed of him or herself; if not ... well, ignorance is no excuse.

I naturally wanted to know who had decided that spectrology was even a word. According to the New Oxford Dictionary (2001 reissue), it isn't; but Chambers (13th edition, 2014) says it is – and it can mean the study of either ghosts or spectra.

It's also listed in several online dictionaries; The Free Dictionary, citing Collins (12th edition, 2014), defines it as "the study of spectres or spectra".

So I was right after all! "Colours" was, in the immortal words of Mike Wagstaffe (Webmaster of the Stockport Quiz League) "an equally acceptable answer". And Spectrology gets a listing on this page – but both answers are given.

Ology to Subject

Q: What is ... the study of?		A:
Aetiology		Causes of diseases
Agrology		Soil
Aquaculture		Fish farming
Aurology		Ears
Campanology		Bellringing
Cardiology		The heart (diseases of)
Cereology		Crop circles
Chromatics or Chromatology		Colour(s)
Conchology		Shells and shellfish
Cryptology		Codes
Demography		Population
Dendrology		Trees
Dermatology		Diseases of the skin
Didactics		Teaching
Ekistics		Human settlements
Entomology		Insects
Epistemiology		Knowledge (theory of)
Ethology		Animal behaviour
Etymology		Words and their origins (cf. Lexicology)
Genealogy		Family histories
Gerontology		Ageing
Graphology		Handwriting
Haematology		Blood (diseases of)
Heliology		The sun
Herpetology		Reptiles and amphibians
Histology		Cells
Hoplology		Weapons and armour
Ichthyology		Fishes
Lepidoptery		Butterflies and moths
Lexicology		Words and their meanings (cf. Etymology)
Limnology		Inland waters (lakes, ponds, rivers)
Metrology		Weights and measures (measurement)
Mycology		Fungi
Myology		Muscles
Myrmecology		Ants
Nephology		Clouds
Nephrology		Kidney diseases
Obstetrics		Childbirth
Oenology		Wine
Oncology		Tumours (cancer)
Oneirology		Dreams
Onomastics		Proper names
Oology (o–ology)		Birds' eggs
Ophidology		Snakes; a branch of Herpetology (sometimes known as ophiology)
Optics		Light
Orology		Mountains
Osteology		Bones
Otology		Ears
Palaeontology		Fossils
Pedology		Soils
Petrology		Rocks
Phycology		Algae
Psephology		Elections and balloting ("quantitative analysis of")
Rhinology		Noses
Selenology		The moon
Serigraphy		Silk screen printing
Somatology		The human body
Spectrology		Ghosts, or spectra
Speleology		Caves
Taxonomy		The naming and classification of living organisms
Teratology		Medical abnormalities (developed at the foetal or early embryonic stage – from the Greek word for a monster)
Thanatology		Death
Toponymy		Place names
Tribology		Friction
Trichology		Hair and its diseases
Ufology		UFOs
Vexillology		Flags and banners
Zymurgy		Chemistry of brewing

Subject to Ology

Q: What word is used for the (scientific) study of ... ?		A:
Sound and its transmission		Acoustics
The forces exerted by air, or other gases, when in motion		Aerodynamics
Beauty		Aesthetics
The structures of living organisms		Anatomy
Mankind (scientific study)		Anthropology
The motion of projectiles		Ballistics
The science of matter		Chemistry
Dance composition		Choreography
The nature and origin of the universe		Cosmology
Very low temperatures		Cryogenics
The practice of freezing human corpses in the hope of restoring them to life in the future		Cryonics
The search for animals whose existence is not recognised by mainstream zoology (e.g. the Loch Ness monster, yeti)		Cryptozoology
Control mechanisms and communications in machines and living creatures		Cybernetics
Living cells		Cytology
Dating things by counting tree rings		Dendrochronology
Teaching		Didactics
Regulation of food intake and preparation		Dietetics
The behaviour of bodies under the action of forces that produce changes in motion		Dynamics
The interrelations between living organisms and their environment		Ecology
The development of the fertilised egg		Embryology
Insects		Entomology
Factors affecting the health and illness of populations; the incidence, extent and spread of communicable diseases		Epidemiology
The efficiency of people in their working environment		Ergonomics
Life beyond Earth		Exobiology, astrobiology
Gems and precious stones		Gemmology
Physiology and diseases of women		Gynaecology
Blood diseases		Haematology
Practical application of hydrodynamics to water pipes, etc.		Hydraulics
Motion and equilibriums in a system partly or wholly fluid		Hydrodynamics
Hydrodynamics when applied to a system not in equilibrium		Hydrokinetics
The properties and distribution of water		Hydrology
Hydrodynamics of a system in equilibrium		Hydrostatics
The philosophy of law		Jurisprudence
Butterflies and moths		Lepidoptery
The weather		Meteorology
Sacred buildings (from the Greek word for a temple)		Naology
The anatomy, development and diseases of teeth		Odontology
Diseases and surgery of the eye (and the visual pathways to and within the brain)		Ophthalmology
The chemistry of Carbon and its compounds		Organic Chemistry
Correction of abnormalities in the teeth		Orthodontics
The musculoskeletal system (branch of surgery concerned with)		Orthopaedics
Children's diseases (branch of medicine concerned with)		Paediatrics
Life in the geological past		Palaeontology
Seeds, spores and pollen		Palynology
Unexplained phenomena ('things beyond the human mind')		Parapsychology
Therapeutic use of mud or clay		Pelotherapy
Drugs, and their effects on man and other animals		Pharmacology
Times of natural, seasonal events (e.g. appearance of flowers, migration of birds, shedding of leaves)		Phenology
Sounds in speech		Phonetics
"Pseudoscientific" study of character through the lumps and bumps of the head		Phrenology
Matter and energy, without reference to chemical change		Physics
Functions of the body		Physiology
Continental drift and sea floor spreading		Plate tectonics
Poetic meters and versification		Prosody
Political elections and trends therein		Psephology
The human mind		Psychology
Massaging the feet to treat dysfunction elsewhere in the body		Reflexology
Earthquakes		Seismology
The study of signs and symbols, including the study of the symptoms of diseases		Semiotics
Matter by investigating light, sound, or particles that it emits, absorbs or scatters		Spectroscopy
The naming and classification of living organisms		Taxonomy
The structure and movement of the Earth's crust		Tectonics
Religion (especially Christianity)		Theology
Heat and temperature, and their relation to energy and work		Thermodynamics
In geography: the surface features of a place, region or object		Topography
In geometry: the properties of a figure that remain unchanged when the figure is bent or stretched; includes surfaces, knots, etc.		Topology
The nature and effects of poisons		Toxicology
The branch of geometry that studies the relationships between the angles of triangles and the lengths of their sides		Trigonometry
Sound at frequencies above the limits of human hearing		Ultrasonics

© Haydn Thompson 2017–24