Medicine & BodyGreek → English
Etiology
/ˌiːtiˈɒlədʒi/noun
The set of causes of a disease or condition, or the branch of medicine that investigates them.
The Greek roots
αἰτία
aitía
cause, blame
λόγος
lógos
study, account
Literally: “study of causes”
The story of the word
Aitia carried a legal edge before a medical one: it meant the charge laid against someone, the responsibility. Doctors still write "etiology unknown" when nothing can be pinned down. Folklorists borrowed the word too, for stories that exist to explain an origin, such as why the raven is black.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
- First recorded
- 17th century
Same family
aetiologicalapologylogicbiology
In a sentence
The etiology of the outbreak was traced to a single water tank.
Chronic fatigue syndrome still has a contested etiology.