(Noun. /BYE-ol-ogee/)
by Hannah Thrash
What does it mean?
Biology, in simple terms, is the study of life. This includes all life, from the smallest single-celled organism to entire groups of living things that interact within an environment. While biology can, and does, refer to the study of a living thing, or groups of living things, the term can also be used to refer to the way living things work together. For example, you could say ‘I study Molecular Biology’, meaning the study of life at the molecular level, or you could say ‘The biology at the molecular level is really interesting’, referring to the mechanisms of life at the level of DNA and RNA.
How do I use it in a sentence?
“I was really excited to study the biology of the forest.”
Figure 1: Biology is a really diverse subject and includes the study of the tiniest atom, all the way to how all of life interacts on Earth to form the biosphere! (Image created by author using Biorender.)
Etymology
Biology is formed from 2 Greek words: bios, meaning life, and logia, meaning branch of study or study of.
Related terms
DNA
RNA
Cell
Organ
Organism
Plants
Animals
Species
Evolution
Fields of study in which this word is commonly used
Microbiology
Molecular Biology
Ecology
Botany
Virology
Zoology
Marine Biology
Biochemistry
Neuroscience
Genetics
Taxonomy
