Etymologically
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biologist

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 22:33. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • /baɪˈɒləd͡ʒɪst/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English biology + -ist.[2][3][4][5] The OED compares French biologiste (1832) and German Biologe (19th century).[2] Biology itself is made of bio- and -logy.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who writes biographical history, and later one who studies human life and character: 1686, in the title of a translation by D. Loftus, an isolated early use.[2] Etymonline dates the word to 1813, as "a student of the science of life", still in reference to human life.[3]

Semantic evolution

The first uses followed the Greek sense of bios, human life, and were close to biographer; this sense died out by 1823.[2][3] The modern scientific sense, an expert in biology, is recorded from 1829, in the Lancet,[2][6] and by 1859 in Etymonline's account,[3] after biology had been introduced as a scientific term in 1802 by Treviranus in German and Lamarck in French.[3] For a few decades (1853–74) a biologist was also a practitioner of mesmerism, from electrobiology.[2][6]

Timeline

  • 1686 – a writer of biography; later a student of human life (obsolete by 1823).[2]
  • 1813 – a student of the science of life.[3]
  • 1829 – an expert in biology.[2][6]
  • 1853 – a practitioner of mesmerism (obsolete by 1874).[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A scientist who studies biology, or a student of it: The biologist spent the summer counting frogs in the marsh.[4][5][2]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)