Aetiologist

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who studies the causes or origins of phenomena in various fields
2. An expert identifying and explaining the root causes of diseases or conditions
3. One who researches and provides insights on causative factors in health and science

Etymology: Aetiologist is a rare, technical formation: a person who studies or specialises in aetiology, the investigation of causes, especially of disease. Its pieces are easy to read. "Aetiology" comes from the Greek "aitia", meaning cause, and the English noun it forms on is "aetiology" itself, with the suffix "-ist" added to name a practitioner. The suffix "-ist" entered English through French and Latin from Greek "-istēs", and it has long been attached to nouns to name someone who follows a discipline or practice, as in "geologist" or "biologist". Attaching it to "aetiology" simply produces a person who works on causes in the same way that a geologist works on rocks.

Synonyms: causalist, origin investigator