thanatology

thanatology

English

Etymology

From thanato- +‎ -logy, from Ancient Greek θάνατος (thánatos, “death”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /θan.əˈtɒl.əd͡ʒ.i/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌθæ.nəˈtɑl.əd͡ʒ.i/
• Rhymes: -ɒlədʒi

Noun

thanatology (usually uncountable, plural thanatologies)

1. The scientific study of death and the practices associated with it, including the study of the needs of the terminally ill and their families.
   • 2022 May 17, Elizabeth Preston, “Elephants in Mourning Spotted on YouTube by Scientists”, in The New York Times‎, ISSN 0362-4331:

     The work is part of a growing field called comparative thanatology — the study of how different animals react to death.

Translations

scientific study of death

Belarusian: танаталогія (tanatalóhija) Chinese: Mandarin: 死亡學／死亡学 (sǐwángxué) Czech: thanatologie Estonian: tanatoloogia Finnish: tanatologia French: thanatologie (fr) German: Sterbensforschung Gujarati: મૃત્યુવિજ્ઞાન (mṛtyuvijñān) Hindi: मृत्युविज्ञान (mŕtyuvigyān) Hungarian: haláltan Icelandic: dauðafræði f Irish: báseolaíocht f Italian: tanatologia (it) f Japanese: 死生学 (しせいがく, shiseigaku) Kazakh: танатология (tanatologiä) Korean: 사망학(死亡學) (samanghak) Malay: kaji kematian, tanatologi Marathi: मृत्युविज्ञान (mrutyuvidnyān) Polish: tanatologia (pl) Portuguese: tanatologia (pt) f Russian: танатология (ru) (tanatologija) Slovak: tanatológia Spanish: tanatología (es) Tamil: மரணவியல் (maraṇaviyal) Turkish: tanatoloji Vietnamese: tử vong học

See also

• (health care specifically) end-of-life care, palliative care