Astrology

How to spell astrology

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce astrology

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does astrology mean?

1. nounThe study or practice of interpreting the supposed influence of the stars and planets on human lives and events.

Astrology in a sentence

• She reads a daily horoscope column and takes astrology seriously.

• The magazine devotes a full page to astrology and zodiac signs.

Where does astrology come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word traces back to the Greek astron, meaning 'star', joined with logia, a word-forming element meaning 'the study or account of' something, taken from logos 'word, reason, account'. In its earliest classical use the Greek astrologia covered the study of the heavens generally, with little distinction between what we would now separate into astronomy and astrology. The term reached English in the late 1300s by way of Latin astrologia and Old French astrologie, at first referring broadly to celestial observation. Over the following centuries, as the rigorous, measuring side of the subject hardened into astronomy, astrology narrowed to mean the practice of interpreting the supposed influence of stars and planets on human affairs. The shared astro- element survives in many star-related words such as astronaut and asterisk, and remembering that single Greek root for 'star' anchors the opening 'astro' that learners need to spell.

How the word is built

• astro- (from Greek astron: star)
• -logy (from logos: study, account)