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START / NODE 1025Present-Day EnglishModern English
-logy
A bound English word element used in formations involving discourse or expression and in names of doctrines, theories, sciences, and fields of study.
“-logy never simply meant “the study of.” Its recorded English range includes oral or written expression, discourse, doctrine, theory, and science, and its hyphen marks a bound form rather than a freestanding ancestral word.”OPEN COMPLETE WORD DOSSIER ↗
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01
PARENT ROUTES1 REVIEWED RELATIONSHIP
Present-Day English-logy
bound element forming nouns of expression, discourse, doctrine, theory, science, or study
↑GO DEEPER
Middle English · Middle English-logiebound learned element visible in words such as etimologie
- SOUND CHANGE
- Middle English -logie is continued by modern English -logy with spelling and pronunciation adapted to later English patterns.
- SEMANTIC CHANGE
- The learned form remains productive across expression, discourse, doctrine, theory, science, and study senses rather than narrowing to one universal gloss.
- SCHOLAR
- American Heritage Dictionary Editors · Merriam-Webster Editors
- CONFIDENCE
- established — The sources establish the historical form and semantic range, but do not supply one coinage date for the combining form itself.
- CHRONOLOGY
- The form is evidenced inside words; the hyphenated dictionary headword is a modern lexicographic representation.
2 CITATIONS-logy — Definition and Word HistoryDefinitions 1–2 American Heritage Dictionary: -logy or -ology-logy or -ology: Middle English -logie AUDIT CANONICAL EDGE 1025 ↗
Documents the modern expression, doctrine, theory, and science range.
ORIGINAL ↗Publishes the Middle English form behind the current suffix or combining form.
ORIGINAL ↗THE ASTERISK IS A PROMISE
RECONSTRUCTION IS
NOT INSCRIPTION.
Crossing into a starred form changes the evidence class. The interface marks that crossing, preserves confidence, and never manufactures the next root to make the picture look complete.