Andrology

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ænˈdɹɒləd͡ʒi/

Definitions

1. A medical specialty examining male health, concentrating on reproductive and urological concerns alongside sexual wellness
2. This field of medicine investigates male-specific biological aspects, covering topics from infertility to hormonal imbalances and prostate conditions
3. A branch of medicine that focuses on male biological health, addressing issues related to urology, reproductive function, and sexual well-being

Etymology: Andrology is a modern coinage assembled from two Greek pieces, and its first half is one of the few English medical prefixes that still carries the ancient word for "man" rather than "human." The Greek "anēr" (genitive "andrós") meant an adult male, as opposed to a woman or a child, and it is the source of the "andro-" that appears in words like androgynous. The second half, "-logy," comes from Greek "lógos," meaning "word," "reason" or "study," which English uses as a suffix for an organised body of knowledge: biology, geology, theology. The ending reached English through a long chain. The Greek suffix "-logia" was taken into Latin as "-logia," passed through French as "-logie," and entered English as "-logy." Combining it with "andro-" produced a term for the study of men's bodies, and English speakers used it in medicine as a parallel to gynaecology, the specialty concerned with women's health. The pairing was deliberate: the two words were built to sit side by side.