Meteorology

How to spell meteorology

11 letters · 6 syllables

How to pronounce meteorology

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does meteorology mean?

1. nounThe scientific study of the atmosphere, especially as it relates to weather and forecasting.

Meteorology in a sentence

• She studied meteorology at university before joining the forecasting team.

• Advances in meteorology have made storm warnings far more accurate.

Where does meteorology come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word reaches back to the Greek meteoron, literally 'a thing high in the air' or 'a thing raised up', formed from meta 'high above' and the verb aeirein 'to lift or raise'. The ancient Greeks used ta meteora to describe all the lofty phenomena of the sky, from clouds and rainbows to shooting stars, and Aristotle wrote a treatise called Meteorologica covering exactly these atmospheric events. The second half is the familiar Greek -logia, meaning 'study of' or 'discourse about', from logos 'word, reason'. English adopted meteorology in the 1600s as the science of the atmosphere and its weather, even as the related word 'meteor' narrowed to mean the bright streak of a falling rock. The spelling trap lives in that early stretch of vowels: it is mete-OR-o-logy, with the 'meteor' fully intact, so writers who slip an extra 'e' in and produce 'metereology' have simply lost track of where the meteor ends.

How the word is built

• meteor- (from Greek meteoron: a thing high in the air)
• -o- (connecting vowel)
• -logy (study of)