ecology

English

Alternative forms

oecology, œcology (archaic)

Etymology

Calque of German Ökologie (coined by Ernst Haeckel), from Ancient Greek οἶκος (oîkos, “house”) + -λογία (-logía, “study of”). By surface analysis, eco- +‎ -logy.

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /ɛˈkɒlədʒi/, /ɪˈkɒlədʒi/
Audio (UK) (file)
(US) enPR: ĕkŏlŏjĕ, IPA^(key): /i.ˈkɑ.lə.d͡ʒi/
Hyphenation: ecol‧ogy
Rhymes: -ɒlədʒi

Noun

ecology (countable and uncountable, plural ecologies)

(biology) The branch of biology dealing with the relationships of organisms with their environment and with each other.
- 1949, George R. Stewart, Earth Abides:
  As a graduate student, he was working on a thesis: The Ecology of the Black Creek Area. He had to investigate the relationships, past and present, of men and plants and animals in this region.
- 2012 January 1, Robert M. Pringle, “How to Be Manipulative”, in American Scientist‎, volume 100, number 1, page 31:
  As in much of biology, the most satisfying truths in ecology derive from manipulative experimentation. Tinker with nature and quantify how it responds.

Hyponyms

agroecology
autecology
chemical ecology
chronoecology
dendroecology
ethnoecology
geoecology
hydroecology
kincentric ecology
language ecology
linguistic ecology
macroecology
myrmecology
palaeoecology
paleoecology
photoecology
phytoecology
radioecology
restoration ecology
social ecology
socioecology
synecology
thermoecology

Derived terms

agroecology
arcology
astroecology
autecology
bioecology
chemical ecology
chronoecology
cultural ecology
deep ecology
dendroecology
eco-
ecological
ecologist
ecology block
ecosystem
ecotribe
ethnoecology
geoecology
hydroecology
macroecology
microecology
myrmecology
paleoecology
photoecology
radioecology
restoration ecology
socioecology
synecology
zooecology

Related terms

ecology block

Translations

branch of biology

Afrikaans: ekologie (af)
Albanian: ekologji (sq) f
Arabic: عِلْم اَلْبِيئَة‎ m (ʿilm al-bīʾa)
Aragonese: ecolochía f
Armenian: էկոլոգիա (hy) (ēkologia)
Asturian: ecoloxía f
Belarusian: экало́гія f (ekalóhija)
Breton: ekoloji f
Bulgarian: екология (bg) f (ekologija)
Burmese: ဂေဟဗေဒ (geha.beda.)
Catalan: ecologia f
Chinese:
Cantonese: 生態 (saang¹taai³)
Mandarin: 生態／生态 (zh) (shēngtài), 生態學／生态学 (zh) (shēngtàixué)
Min Nan: 生態學 (seng-thài-ha̍k)
Czech: ekologie (cs) f
Danish: økologi (da) c
Dutch: ecologie (nl) f
Esperanto: ekologio
Estonian: ökoloogia (et)
Faroese: vistfrøði (fo) f
Finnish: ekologia (fi), ympäristötiede (fi)
French: écologie (fr) f
Galician: ecoloxía (gl) f
Georgian: ეკოლოგია (eḳologia)
German: Ökologie (de) f
Alemannic German: Ökologie f
Greek: οικολογία (el) f (oikología)
Hebrew: אקולוגיה‎ (he) f (ekologyia)
Hindi: पारिस्थितिकी (pāristhitikī)
Hungarian: ökológia (hu), környezettan (hu)
Icelandic: vistifræði n
Ido: ekologio (io)
Indonesian: ekologi (id)
Interlingua: ecologia
Irish: éiceolaíocht f
Italian: ecologia (it) f
Japanese: 生態学 (ja) (せいたいがく, seitaigaku)
Kannada: ಹೊಂದಿಕೆಯರಿಮೆ (kn) (hondikeyarime)
Kazakh: экология (ekologiä)
Khmer: បរិស្ថានវិទ្យា (bɑɑrestʰaan vityie), និវេសនវិទ្យា (niveih vityie), អាស្រយវិទ្យា (ʼaahrɔɔyvɨtyiə)
Korean: 생태학(生態學) (ko) (saengtaehak)
Latin: oecologia f
Latvian: ekoloģija (lv) f
Lithuanian: ekologija f
Luxembourgish: Ökologie f, Ekologie f
Macedonian: еколо́гија f (ekológija)
Malay:
Jawi: کاجي عالم حيات‎, ايکولوݢي‎ (ms)
Rumi: kaji alam hayat, ekologi (ms)
Maltese: ekoloġija f
Maori: mātai hauropi
Mongolian: орчинзүй (orčinzüj)
Norman: écologie f (Jersey)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: økologi (no) m
Nynorsk: økologi m
Occitan: ecologia (oc) f
Persian: بوم‌شناسی‎ (bum-šenâsi)
Polish: ekologia (pl) f
Portuguese: ecologia (pt) f
Romanian: ecologie (ro) f
Russian: эколо́гия (ru) f (ekológija)
Scottish Gaelic: eag-eòlas m
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: екологија f
Roman: ekologija (sh) f
Sindhi: سَهِجِياڀياس‎
Slovak: ekológia f
Slovene: ekologija (sl) f
Spanish: ecología (es) f
Sundanese: ékologi
Swahili: ikolojia
Swedish: ekologi (sv) c, miljöforskning
Tagalog: palamuhayan, ekolohiya
Tajik: экология (ekologiya)
Tamil: சூழ்நிலையியல் (ta) (cūḻnilaiyiyal)
Thai: นิเวศวิทยา (níwêt wíttáyaa)
Turkish: çevre bilimi (tr), ekoloji (tr)
Ukrainian: еколо́гія (uk) f (ekolóhija)
Vietnamese: sinh thái học (vi) (生態學)
Volapük: köolog
Welsh: ecoleg f
Zazaki: ekoloci

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Corsican: ^{(please verify)} ekologia
Sardinian: ^{(please verify)} ecologia f
Sicilian: ^{(please verify)} ecologia f

References

ecology at OneLook Dictionary Search
ecology in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
"ecology" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 110.
ecology in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911