Batrachology

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The scientific study and knowledge of amphibians, especially frogs and toads; the branch of zoology focusing on these cold-blooded vertebrates; the research involving the biology and ecology of amphibians
2. The field of science concerned with amphibians including frogs and toads; a zoological discipline that examines these creatures’ anatomy, life cycles, and habitats; the investigation and classification of amphibious animals
3. The branch of biological science studying amphibious creatures such as frogs and toads; the systematic exploration of their characteristics and behaviors; a subfield of zoology that concentrates on amphibians’ natural history and physiology

Etymology: Batrachology is a learned coinage built from the Ancient Greek "bátrakhos", meaning "frog", and the combining element "-logy", from "lógos", "word" or "study". The result is a name for the scientific study of amphibians, a group that takes in frogs, toads, salamanders and newts, even though the word itself points only to frogs. The "-logy" ending is what turned a plain Greek noun into a field of study. Scholars across Europe adopted the pattern to name new disciplines, so a word for a creature became a title for the body of knowledge about it. Batrachology follows the same method as biology and zoology, with the frog serving as the representative of the whole amphibian group.

Synonyms: amphibian study, herpetology (partial)