biography English · revision 15229

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1665|origins=grc βίος, grc γράφω}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /baɪˈɒɡɹəfi/ ''(UK)''; /baɪˈɑɡɹəfi/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la-new|biographia]] or [[fr|biographie]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(NODE 1998)^(Etymonline) from [[grc|βιογραφία|tr=biographía|t=description of a life]], a late Greek word (classical Greek used [[m|grc|βίος|tr=bíos]] alone),^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[m|grc|βίος|tr=bíos|t=life]] and [[m|grc|-γραφία|tr=-graphía|t=writing, record]], from [[m|grc|γράφω|tr=gráphō|t=to write]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The histories of individual lives as a branch of literature: 1683, in Dryden's translation of Plutarch's ''Lives'', in Barnhart and the OED;^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) the 1680s in Etymonline.^(Etymonline) Merriam-Webster dates it to 1665.^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ A written history of one person's life is from 1791,^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) and the life course of any living being by 1854.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) No one-word verb has become common, though biographize (1800), biography (1844) and biograph (1849) were tried.^(Etymonline) Biographer is from 1715, in Addison, and biographical from 1738.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1683 – biography as literature.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1715 – biographer.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1791 – an account of a life.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1854 – the life course of a being.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # An account of a person's life written by someone else.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Such accounts as a [[genre]] of literature.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[biographee]]

+ * [[autobiography]]

+ * [[psychobiography]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[biographer]]

+ * [[biographical]]

+ * [[biopic]]

+ * [[hagiography]]

+ * [[pathography]]

+ * [[bio-]]

+ * [[-graphy]]

+ * [[biology]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}