biographer (n.) Look up biographer at
biographical (adj.) Look up biographical at
1738; see biography + -ical. Related: Biographically.
biography (n.) Look up biography at
1680s, probably from Latin biographia, from Late Greek biographia "description of life," from Greek bios "life" (see bio-) + graphia "record, account" (see -graphy). Biographia was not in classical Greek (bios alone was the word for it), though it is attested in later Greek from c.500.
biohazard (n.) Look up biohazard at
also bio-hazard, 1973, from bio- + hazard (n.).
biological (adj.) Look up biological at
1840, from biology + -ical. Biological clock attested from 1955; not especially of human reproductive urges until c. 1991. Related: Biologically.
biologist (n.) Look up biologist at
1813, from biology + -ist. Earliest use is in reference to human life. In modern scientific sense, by 1874.
biology (n.) Look up biology at
1819, from Greek bios "life" (see bio-) + -logy. Suggested 1802 by German naturalist Gottfried Reinhold Treviranus (1776-1837), and introduced as a scientific term that year in French by Lamarck.
bioluminescence (n.) Look up bioluminescence at
bioluminescent (adj.) Look up bioluminescent at
also bio-luminescent, 1929; see bioluminescence.
biomass (n.) Look up biomass at
also bio-mass, c. 1980, from bio- + mass (n.1).
biome (n.) Look up biome at
biomechanics (n.) Look up biomechanics at
also bio-mechanics, 1933, "study of the action of forces on the body," from bio- + mechanic (also see -ics). Earlier (1924) as a term in Russian theater, from Russian biomekhanika (1921).
biomedical (adj.) Look up biomedical at
also bio-medical, 1961, from bio- + medical (adj.).
biometric (adj.) Look up biometric at
1888, from bio- + -metric.
biometrics (n.) Look up biometrics at
biometry (n.) Look up biometry at
see biometrics.
biomorphic (adj.) Look up biomorphic at
1895, from bio- + Greek morphe "form" (see Morpheus) + -ic.
bionic (adj.) Look up bionic at
bionics (n.) Look up bionics at
1959, from bio- + second element from electronic; also see -ics.
bionomics (n.) Look up bionomics at
"science of organic evolution; ecology," 1888, coined by Scottish biologist Patrick Geddes (1854-1932) from Greek bios "life" (see bio-) + nomos "managing," from nemein "to manage," from PIE root *nem- "to divide, distribute, allot" (see nemesis).
biopic (n.) Look up biopic at
also bio-pic, 1951, from biographical + (moving) picture. Frequent from mid-1951 in "Billboard" and possibly coined there.
biopsy (n.) Look up biopsy at
biorhythm (n.) Look up biorhythm at
also bio-rhythm, 1960, from bio- + rhythm. Related: Biorhythmic.
biosphere (n.) Look up biosphere at
1899, from or modeled on German Biosphäre (1875), coined by German geologist Eduard Suess (1831-1914); see bio- + sphere.
biota (n.) Look up biota at
1901, from Greek biota "life" (see bio-).
biotechnology (n.) Look up biotechnology at
bioterrorism (n.) Look up bioterrorism at
biotic (adj.) Look up biotic at
biotin (n.) Look up biotin at
vitamin of the B group (also sometimes called vitamin H) essential for the growth of yeast, 1936, from German Biotin (1936), from Greek biotos "life" (see bio-) + chemical suffix -in (2).
biparous (adj.) Look up biparous at
"bringing forth two at birth," 1731, from bi- + Latin -parus, from parere "bring forth, bear" (see pare).
bipartisan (adj.) Look up bipartisan at
also bi-partisan, 1894, from bi- + partisan.
bipartisanship (n.) Look up bipartisanship at
bipartite (adj.) Look up bipartite at
1570s, from Latin bipartitus "divided," past participle of bipartire "to divide into two parts," from bi- (see bi-) + partitus, past participle of partiri "to divide" (see part (v.)).
biped (n.) Look up biped at
bipedal (adj.) Look up bipedal at
c. 1600, from biped + -al (1). Classical Latin bipedalis meant "two feet long or thick."
bipedalism (n.) Look up bipedalism at
1897; see bipedal + -ism.
biplane (n.) Look up biplane at
airplane with two full wings, one above the other, 1874, as a theoretical notion; first attested 1908 in reference to the real thing; from bi- + plane (n.1). So called from the two "planes" of the double wings.
biplicity (n.) Look up biplicity at
1731; see bi- + ending from multiplicity. A useful and non-pejorative alternative to duplicity.
bipolar (adj.) Look up bipolar at
"having two poles," from bi- + polar; 1810 with figurative sense of "of double aspect;" 1859 with reference to physiology. Psychiatric use in reference to what had been called manic-depressive psychosis is said to have begun 1957 with German psychiatrist Karl Leonhard. The term became popular early 1990s. Bipolar disorder was in DSM III (1980).
bipolarity (n.) Look up bipolarity at
also bi-polarity, 1834; see bi- + polarity.
bippy (n.) Look up bippy at
biracial (adj.) Look up biracial at
also bi-racial, 1904, from bi- + racial. Related: Biracially.
birch (n.) Look up birch at
Old English berc, beorc (also the name of the rune for "b"), from Proto-Germanic *berkjon (source also of Old Saxon birka, Old Norse börk, Danish birk, Swedish björk (also a girl's given name), Middle Dutch berke, Dutch berk, Old High German birihha, German Birke), from PIE *bhergo (source also of Ossetian barz, Old Church Slavonic breza, Russian bereza, Lithuanian beržas, Sanskrit bhurjah, Latin farnus, fraxinus "mountain ash"), from root *bhereg- "to gleam, white." Meaning "bunch of birch twigs used for flogging" (1640s) led to verb meaning "to flog" (1830). Related: Birched; birching. Birch beer is by 1827, American English.
birchbark (n.) Look up birchbark at
1640s, American English, from birch (n.) + bark (n.). Old English had beorcrind.
birchen (adj.) Look up birchen at
Bircher (n.) Look up Bircher at
1961, member of the U.S. anti-communist John Birch Society, founded 1958.
bird (n.1) Look up bird at
bird (n.2) Look up bird at
bird (n.3) Look up bird at