zoological

Etymology

It is formed from English zoology + -ical;^[2][3][4][5] Merriam-Webster also allows -ic as the suffix, beside the less common form zoologic.^[6][7] The noun zoology is from New Latin zoologia (“science of animals”), recorded from 1630,^[2][3] which is formed from Ancient Greek ζῷον (zōion, “animal”) and -λογία (-logía, “study”).^[8][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of or relating to zoology: 1686, in W. Salmon's translation of J. Doläus's Systema Medicinale.^[2] The revised OED of 2017 has this date, while the 1989 edition, Merriam-Webster and the Shorter Oxford had the word only from the early 19th century (1807);^{[9][6][10][4]} Etymonline dates it to 1777.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The first record is in a medical work: the OED notes that the Latin zoologia first denoted the part of medicine that deals with remedies obtained from animals, and only later the general study of animals.^[2] From 1816 the adjective was used of animals in general, and the Shorter Oxford notes that this use is often jocular, as in Dickens's "zoological papering" on a wall.^[2][4] From 1827 it named an establishment where wild animals are kept for study and display, as in zoological garden and zoological park,^[2][4] the Zoological Gardens being those of the London Zoological Society in Regent's Park.^[9][3] For a time the Zoological alone was short for those gardens (1831–1890),^[2] and the clipping zoo, from the first three letters of Zoological Gardens, is said to date from 1847.^[3]

Timeline

• 1686 – of or relating to zoology.^[2]
• 1816 – of or relating to animals in general.^[2]
• 1827 – of an establishment where wild animals are kept for study or display.^[2]
• 1831 – noun, short for the Zoological Gardens in London (obsolete by 1890).^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or relating to zoology, the scientific study of animals: a zoological expedition.^{[6][10][11][2]}
2. Of or relating to animals in general.^[11][2][4]
3. Relating to or affecting the lower animals, as distinguished from humans.^[6][10]
4. Of or relating to a zoo, as in zoological garden or zoological park.^[2][4]

Word family

• zoologically
• nonzoological
• zoological garden

Related words

• zoology
• zoologist
• zoo
• zoic
• protozoa

Usage notes

The OED notes that the pronunciation of zoology with /zuː-/ is influenced by the clipping zoo and has often been criticized by usage guides; the first edition of the OED (1921) preferred /zəu-/.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin