aetiology

See also: ætiology

English

Alternative forms

• ætiology (archaic)
• aitiology
• etiology (US, Canada)

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin aetiologia, from Ancient Greek αἰτιολογία (aitiología), from αἰτία (aitía, “cause”). By surface analysis, aetio- +‎ -logy; Doublet of aetiologia.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /iː.tɪˈɒ.lə.dʒi/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /i.tiˈɑ.lə.d͡ʒi/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒlədʒi

Noun

aetiology (countable and uncountable, plural aetiologies)

1. The establishment of a cause, origin, or reason for something.
   • 1999, Sigmund Freud, translated by Joyce Crick, The Interpretation of Dreams, I.c:

     I do not know where the idea first arose of enlisting internal (subjective) excitations of the sensory organs as well as external sensory stimuli; but it is in fact done in all the more recent accounts of the aetiology of dreams [translating Traumätiologie].

2. The study of causes or causation.
3. (medicine, uncountable) The study or investigation of the causes of disease; a scientific explanation for the origin of a disease.
4. (medicine, countable) A cause of disease or of any particular case of a disease (but see pathology § Usage notes).

Usage notes

• Not to be confused with etymology.
• See also pathology § Usage notes.

Derived terms

• aetiologic
• aetiologics
• aetiologist
• aetiologize
• etiologic
• etiological
• etiologically
• etiologist
• palaetiology

 

Translations

study of causes or origins

• Asturian: etioloxía f
• Catalan: etiologia (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 原因論／原因论 (zh) (yuányīnlùn)

• Czech: etiologie (cs) f
• Danish: ætiologi (da)
• Dutch: etiologie (nl) f
• Esperanto: etiologio
• Finnish: etiologia (fi), syyoppi
• French: étiologie (fr) f
• Galician: etioloxía (gl) f
• German: Ätiologie (de) f
• Greek: αιτιολογία (el) f (aitiología)
• Hebrew: אטיולוגיה (he) f (etiologia)
• Hungarian: etiológia (hu), okkutatás
• Italian: eziologia (it) f
• Japanese: 原因論 (げんいんろん, gen'inron)
• Khmer: សមុដ្ឋានវិទ្យា (sa’muttʰaan vityie)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: etiyolojî (ku) f

• Lithuanian: etiologija f
• Norwegian: etiologi
• Polish: etiologia (pl) f
• Portuguese: etiologia (pt) f
• Russian: этиоло́гия (ru) f (etiológija)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: етиологија f

  Roman: etiologija (sh) f

• Spanish: etiología (es) f
• Swedish: etiologi (sv) c
• Turkish: etiyoloji (tr)
• Ukrainian: етіоло́гія (uk) f (etiolóhija)

origins of a disease

• Asturian: etioloxía f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 病原學／病原学 (zh) (bìngyuánxué), 病因學／病因学 (zh) (bìngyīnxué)

• Finnish: etiologia (fi), taudinsyy
• French: étiologie (fr) f
• Galician: etioloxía (gl) f
• Greek: αιτιολογία (el) f (aitiología)
• Hungarian: kóroktan (hu), kórokkutatás, etiológia (hu)
• Korean: 병인학 (病因學)
• Portuguese: etiologia (pt) f
• Tagalog: palasanhiang-sakit
• Thai: สมุฏฐานวิทยา, สมุฏฐานโรค
• Ukrainian: етіоло́гія (uk) f (etiolóhija)

See also

• entomology
• ethnology
• ethology
• etymology