Geologic

How to spell geologic

8 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce geologic

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does geologic mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to geology or to the physical structure and history of the earth and its rocks.

Geologic in a sentence

• The canyon walls reveal millions of years of geologic history.

• The survey team mapped the geologic features of the coastline.

Where does geologic come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word traces back to the Greek roots ge, meaning 'earth', and logos, meaning 'word', 'account', or 'study'. Combined, they produced the idea of the systematic study of the earth, which scholars formalised into the Latinised term geologia by the seventeenth century. The adjective form 'geologic' entered English in the early nineteenth century alongside the related 'geological', precisely when the science of rocks and strata was emerging as a serious discipline. The same ge- element appears in familiar relatives such as 'geography' (describing the earth) and 'geometry' (originally the measuring of land), while the -logic ending echoes words like 'biologic' and 'logic' itself, all built on logos. Because the unstressed first syllables blur in speech, the trap is remembering the 'geo' spelling rather than something like 'jeo'.

How the word is built

• geo- (earth)
• -log- (from Greek logos: study, account)
• -ic (adjective suffix)