aetiology

See also: ætiology

English

Alternative forms

ætiology (archaic)
aitiology
etiology (US, Canada)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /iːtɪˈɒlədʒi/
(US) IPA^(key): /itiˈɑləd͡ʒi/
Rhymes: -ɒlədʒi

Noun

aetiology (countable and uncountable, plural aetiologies)

The establishment of a cause, origin, or reason for something.
- 1999, Joyce Crick, translating Sigmund Freud, 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].
The study of causes or causation.
(medicine, uncountable) The study or investigation of the causes of disease; a scientific explanation for the origin of a disease.
(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

etiologic
etiological
etiologically
etiologist

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 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, kórokkutatás, etiológia (hu)
Portuguese: etiologia (pt) f
Tagalog: palasanhiang-sakit
Thai: สมุฏฐานวิทยา, สมุฏฐานโรค
Ukrainian: етіоло́гія (uk) f (etiolóhija)