Morphologie

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The study of the structure and form of organisms, including their shape and arrangement of parts
2. A branch of biology focusing on the physical characteristics and configurations of living entities and their features
3. The examination of the outward forms and structural organization of organisms, often addressing variations and developments in shape

Etymology: The word was coined in 1796 by the German poet and polymath Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who used it in his scientific writing about plant and animal forms. Goethe built it from the Greek "morphē," meaning "form" or "shape," and "-logia," meaning "study of" or "discourse about," so the literal sense is "the study of form." He was not simply naming a field of inquiry that already existed. He was proposing a new way of looking at organisms, in which the shape of a plant or animal was understood as a pattern that could be traced across related species. The term reached English in the early 19th century, and its meaning has shifted as the sciences around it changed. In biology it refers to the study of the external and internal structure of organisms, while in linguistics it describes the study of word forms and how they are built from smaller units. Its use in other fields, such as geology and crystallography, follows the same logic of studying shape and structure.

Synonyms: morphology, structure, form, shape, configuration