Physiology

The story of the word

Greek φυσιολογία covered the study of nature at large, and Aristotle called the early thinkers who practised it φυσιολόγοι. English took the Latinized form in the 1560s with that whole broad sense intact. It narrowed to the workings of living bodies only during the 17th century, so an Elizabethan physiologist might well have been talking about rocks.

How it travelled

Ancient Greek → Latin → English

First recorded

1560s