Sociology
nounThe study of human society, its structures, institutions, and patterns of behaviour.
How to spell sociology
9 letters · 5 syllables
How to pronounce sociology
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does sociology mean?
- nounThe study of human society, its structures, institutions, and patterns of behaviour.
Sociology in a sentence
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She earned a degree in sociology before joining the policy team.
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The lecture explored how sociology explains the formation of social classes.
Where does sociology come from?
Language of origin: French
This is a deliberately coined hybrid word, stitching together a Latin element and a Greek one. The first part comes from the Latin socius, meaning 'companion' or 'ally', which also gives us 'social', 'society', and 'associate'. The second part, -logy, comes from the Greek logos, meaning 'word', 'reason', or 'study', the same ending found in 'biology' and 'geology'. The French philosopher Auguste Comte combined them as sociologie in the 1830s to name the systematic study of human society, and English adopted the term as 'sociology' soon after. Purists once grumbled at the mixed Latin and Greek parentage, but the word stuck; remembering that 'socio' carries the same 'soci' spelling as 'social' and 'society' helps keep the middle letters in place.
How the word is built
- socio- (from Latin socius: companion, associate)
- -logy (from Greek logia: study or discourse)
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