technology

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek τεχνολογία (tekhnología, “systematic treatment (of grammar)”), from τέχνη (tékhnē, “art”) + -λογία (-logía, “study”). Synchronically analysable as techno- +‎ -logy.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /tɛkˈnɒləd͡ʒi/
Audio (RP) (file)
(General American) IPA^(key): /tɛkˈnɑləd͡ʒi/
Rhymes: -ɒləd͡ʒi

Noun

technology (countable and uncountable, plural technologies)

(uncountable) The study of or a collection of techniques.
- 2013 June 21, Chico Harlan, “Japan pockets the subsidy …”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 30:
  Across Japan, technology companies and private investors are racing to install devices that until recently they had little interest in: solar panels. Massive solar parks are popping up as part of a rapid build-up that one developer likened to an "explosion."
All the different and usable technologies developed by a culture or people.
(countable) Any useful skill or mechanism that was developed or invented.
- 2012, Caspar Henderson, The Book of Barely Imagined Beings, page 317:
  Comb jellies lack the most impressive 'technology' of jellyfish - the nematocyst stinging apparatus which is one of the most deadly weapons and fastest cellular processes in nature.
(archaic) A discourse or treatise on the arts.

Usage notes

Adjectives often applied to "technology": assistive, automotive, biological, chemical, domestic, educational, environmental, geospatial, industrial, instructional, medical, microbial, military, nuclear, visual, advanced, sophisticated, high, modern, outdated, obsolete, simple, complex, medieval, ancient, safe, secure, effective, efficient, mechanical, electrical, electronic, emerging, alternative, appropriate, clean, disruptive.
In some milieus and contexts, the word "technology" is understood to be limited to digital communications and computing technology, e.g. "technology companies were overvalued during the dotcom bubble."

Derived terms

chief technology officer
tech
techno
techno geek
technology transfer

Related terms

technical
technician
technique
techno-
technological

Descendants

→ Japanese: テクノロジー (tekunorojī)

Translations

the study of or a collection of techniques

Afrikaans: tegnologie
Albanian: teknologji (sq) f, teknikë (sq) f
Amharic: ቴክኖዎሎጂ (teknowoloǧi), ቴክኖሎጂ (teknoloǧi)
Arabic: تكنولوجيا‎ f (teknolōjyā), تِقَانَة‎ f (tiqāna), تَقْنِيَة‎ (ar) f (taqniya), تِقْنِيَّة‎ (ar) f (tiqniyya)
Egyptian Arabic: (also) تكنيك‎ m (teknīk)
Hijazi Arabic: تِكْنُلوجيا‎ f (tiknulōjya), تَقْنِيَة‎ f (tagniya)
Armenian: տեխնոլոգիա (hy) (texnologia), տեխնիկա (hy) (texnika)
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܬܸܩܢܘܿܠܘܿܓ݂ܝܼܵܐ‎ f (tiqnoloḡīyā), ܐܘܼܡܵܢܘܼܬܵܐ‎ f (umānutā)
Asturian: teunoloxía f
Aymara: lurañ yänaka
Azerbaijani: texnologiya, texnika
Bashkir: технология (texnologiya), техника (texnika)
Basque: teknologia
Belarusian: тэхнало́гія f (texnalóhija), тэхналёгія f (texnaljóhija), тэ́хніка f (téxnika)
Bengali: প্রযুক্তি (prôĵukti)
Bulgarian: техноло́гия (bg) f (tehnológija), те́хника (bg) f (téhnika)
Burmese: နည်းပညာ (nany:pa.nya)
Catalan: tecnologia (ca) f
Cebuano: teknolohiya
Chinese:
Cantonese: 技術, 技术 (gei⁶ soet⁶)
Mandarin: 技術／技术 (zh) (jìshù), 工藝／工艺 (zh) (gōngyì)
Czech: technologie (cs) f, technika (cs) f
Danish: teknologi c, teknik (da) c
Dutch: technologie (nl) f, techniek (nl) f
Esperanto: teknologio (eo)
Estonian: tehnoloogia, tehnika
Finnish: teknologia (fi)
French: technologie (fr) f, technique (fr) f
Galician: tecnoloxía (gl) f
Georgian: ტექნოლოგია (ṭeknologia), ტექნიკა (ṭekniḳa)
German: Technologie (de) f, Technik (de) f
Greek: τεχνολογία (el) f (technología), τεχνική (el) f (technikí)
Haitian Creole: teknoloji
Hawaiian: ʻenehana
Hebrew: טֶכנוֹלוֹגִיָה‎ (he) f (tekhnológya), טֶכְנִיקָה‎ (he) f (tékhnika)
Hiligaynon: teknolohiya
Hindi: टैकनोलजी f (ṭaiknoljī), प्रौद्योगिकी f (praudyogikī), तकनीक f (taknīk)
Hungarian: technológia (hu), technika (hu)
Icelandic: tækni f
Igbo: nka na uzu
Indonesian: teknologi (id), teknik (id)
Inuktitut: ᓴᓇᕐᕈᑏᑦ ᐊᑑᑎᖏᑕᓗ ᖃᐅᔨᒪᔭᐅᓂᖓ (sanarrotiit atootingitalo qaoyimayaoninga)
Irish: teicneolaíocht f
Italian: tecnologia (it) f, tecnica (it) f
Japanese: 技術 (ja) (ぎじゅつ, gijutsu), テクノロジー (ja) (tekunorojī)
Kazakh: технология (texnologiä), техника (texnika)
Khmer: បច្ចេកវិទ្យា (km) (pacceekaʼvityiə), តិកនិក (təknɨk)
Korean: 기술(技術) (ko) (gisul), 테크놀러지 (tekeunolleoji)
Kurdish:
Northern Kurdish: teknolojî (ku)
Kyrgyz: технология (ky) (tehnologiya), техника (ky) (tehnika)
Lao: ເຕັກໂນໂລຊີ (tek nō lō sī), ເທກນິກ (thēk nik)
Latin: technologia f
Latvian: tehnoloģija f, tehnika f
Lithuanian: technologija (lt) f, technika (lt) f
Macedonian: технологија (mk) f (tehnologija), техника f (tehnika)
Malagasy: teknôlôjia
Malay: teknologi (ms)
Malayalam: സാങ്കേതികവിദ്യ (sāṅkētikavidya)
Maori: hangarau
Marathi: तंत्रज्ञान (tantradnyān)
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: технологи (mn) (texnologi), техник (mn) (texnik)
Nahuatl: āmantēcayōtl
Nepali: प्रविधि (pravidhi)
Norman: technologie f
Norwegian:
Bokmål: teknologi m, teknikk m
Occitan: tecnologia (oc) f
Pashto: تکنالوجي‎ (ps) f (teknāloji), تکنالوژي‎ f (teknāloži), ټکنالوجي‎ f (ṭeknāloji), تخنيک‎ (ps) m (taxnīk), تکنيک‎ m (taknīk), ټکنيک‎ m (ṭaknīk)
Pennsylvania German: Waerkzeichheit
Persian: فناوری‎ (fa) (fannâvari), تکنولوژی‎ (fa) (teknoloži), تکنیک‎ (fa) (teknik)
Polish: technika (pl) f, technologia (pl) f
Portuguese: tecnologia (pt) f, técnica (pt) f
Romanian: tehnologie (ro) f, tehnologii (ro) f pl, tehnică (ro) f
Russian: техноло́гия (ru) f (texnológija), те́хника (ru) f (téxnika)
Rusyn: техноло́ґія f (texnológija)
Scottish Gaelic: teicneolas m
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: техноло̀гија f, тѐхника f
Roman: tehnològija (sh) f, tèhnika (sh) f
Sicilian: tinnuluggìa f, ticnuluggìa f, ticchinuluggìa f
Sinhalese: තාක්‍ෂණය (tākṣaṇaya)
Slovak: technológia f, technika f
Slovene: tehnologija (sl) f, tehnika f
Spanish: tecnología (es) f, técnica (es) f
Swahili: teknolojia, tekinolojia
Swedish: teknologi (sv) c, teknik (sv) c
Tagalog: teknolohiya, aghimuan
Tajik: технология (tg) (texnologiya), техника (texnika)
Tamil: தொழினுட்பம் (ta) (toḻiṉuṭpam)
Tatar: технология (texnoloğiya), техника (texnika)
Thai: เทคโนโลยี (th) (ték-noo-loo-yii), เทคนิค (th) (ték-nìk)
Tibetan: འཕྲུལ་ལས་རིག་གནས ('phrul las rig gnas)
Tigrinya: ተክኖሎጊ (täknologi)
Turkish: teknoloji (tr)
Turkmen: tehnologiýa
Ukrainian: техноло́гія f (texnolóhija), те́хніка f (téxnika)
Urdu: ٹیکنالوجی‎ (ur) f (ṭaiknālōjī), تکنیک‎‎ f (taknīk)
Uyghur: تېخنىكا‎ (tëxnika), تېخنولوگىيە‎ (tëxnologiye)
Uzbek: texnologiya (uz), texnika (uz)
Vietnamese: kỹ thuật (vi) (技術), công nghệ (vi)
Welsh: technoleg (cy)
Yiddish: טעכנאָלאָגיע‎ f (tekhnologye), טעכניק‎ f (tekhnik)

a particular technological concept

American Sign Language: Open8@NearUlnarHand-PalmAcross-OpenB@CenterChesthigh-PalmBack Contact Open8@UlnarHand-PalmAcross-OpenB@CenterChesthigh-PalmBack
Bulgarian: технология (bg) f (tehnologija)
Cebuano: teknolohiya
Chinese:
Mandarin: 科技 (zh) (kējì)
Finnish: tekniikka (fi), menetelmä (fi)
Greek: τεχνολογία (el) f (technología)
Irish: teicneolaíocht f
Italian: tecnologia (it) f
Japanese: 技術 (ja) (ぎじゅつ, gijutsu)
Korean: 과학기술(科學技術) (ko) (gwahakgisul)
Polish: technologia (pl) f
Portuguese: tecnologia (pt) f
Romanian: tehnologie (ro) f
Russian: техноло́гия (ru) f (texnológija)
Scottish Gaelic: teicneolas m
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: техноло̀гија f
Roman: tehnològija (sh) f
Slovene: tehnologija (sl) f
Spanish: tecnología (es) f
Swahili: teknolojia, tekinolojia
Swedish: teknologi (sv) c
Yiddish: טעכניק‎ f (tekhnik)

body of tools

Czech: technika (cs) f
Finnish: tekniikka (fi), tekniikat pl, teknologia (fi)
Greek: τεχνολογία (el) f (technología)
Indonesian: teknologi (id)
Irish: teicneolaíocht f
Italian: tecnologia (it) f
Portuguese: tecnologia (pt) f
Romanian: tehnologie (ro) f
Russian: те́хника (ru) f (téxnika)
Scottish Gaelic: teicneolas m
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: техноло̀гија f
Roman: tehnològija (sh) f
Spanish: tecnología (es) f
Swahili: teknolojia, tekinolojia
Swedish: teknologi (sv) c
Tajik: технолоҷӣ (texnolojī)
Yiddish: טעכנאָלאָגיע‎ f (tekhnologye)

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

Icelandic: ^{(please verify)} tæknifræði f
Maltese: ^{(please verify)} teknoloġija
Sindhi: ^{(please verify)} ٽيڪِنِيڀِياسُ‎ (sd)
Tajik: ^{(please verify)} технолоҷӣ (texnolojī)
Tamil: ^{(please verify)} Thozhil Nutpam (Thozhil Nutpam)
Vietnamese: ^{(please verify)} công nghệ (vi), ^{(please verify)} kỹ thuật (vi)