paleontology

English

Alternative forms

palæontology (chiefly British)
palaeontology (British)

Etymology

Attested since 1836 (as palæontology). From French paléontologie (attested since 1822). Surface etymology is paleo- (“ancient”) +‎ onto- (“being”) +‎ -logy (“study”).

Noun

paleontology (uncountable)

(American spelling) Study of the forms of life existing in prehistoric or geologic times, especially as represented by fossils.

Hypernyms

humanities

Hyponyms

anthropology
micropaleontology
taphonomy

Derived terms

micropaleontology
paleontologic
paleontological
paleontologist

Translations

study of prehistoric forms of life

Armenian: հնէաբանություն (hy) (hnēabanutʿyun)
Asturian: paleontoloxía f
Bulgarian: палеонтология f (paleontologija)
Burmese: နိခါတကဗေဒ (my) (ni.hkata.ka.beda.)
Catalan: paleontologia f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 古生物學／古生物学 (zh) (gǔshēngwùxué)
Czech: paleontologie (cs) f
Danish: palæontologi (da) c
Dutch: paleontologie (nl) f
Finnish: paleontologia (fi)
French: paléontologie (fr) f
Galician: paleontoloxía f
German: Paläontologie (de) f
Greek: παλαιοντολογία (el) (palaiontología)
Icelandic: steingervingafræði f
Irish: pailé-ointeolaíocht f
Italian: paleontologia (it) f
Japanese: 古生物学 (ja) (こせいぶつがく, koseibutsugaku)
Khmer: បាសាណិភូតវិទ្យា (baasaanə pʰuut vityie)
Korean: 고생물학(古生物學) (ko) (gosaengmulhak)
Latvian: paleontoloģija f
Lithuanian: paleontologija f
Macedonian: палеонтологија f (paleontologija)
Malay: kaji fosil, paleontologi (ms)
Maori: mātai mātātoka
Norwegian:
Bokmål: paleontologi (no) m
Nynorsk: paleontologi m
Occitan: paleontologia (oc) f
Polish: paleontologia (pl) f
Portuguese: paleontologia (pt) f
Romanian: paleontologie (ro) f
Russian: палеонтоло́гия (ru) f (paleontológija)
Spanish: paleontología (es) f
Swedish: paleontologi (sv) c
Thai: บรรพชีวินวิทยา (ban-pá-chii-win-wít-tá-yaa)
Vietnamese: cổ sinh vật học (古生物學)
Volapük: fösilav (vo)
Yiddish: פּאַלעאָנטאָלאָגיע‎ f (paleontologye)