Nephelology

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The branch of meteorology concerned with the scientific study of clouds, their formation, structure and behavior in the atmosphere
2. A field of atmospheric science devoted to examining clouds, including how they form, what they are made of and how they move
3. The study of cloud types and processes, examining how these vaporous masses arise, change and produce weather in the sky

Etymology: Nephelology is the study of clouds, and its story is largely one of scientific coinage built from Greek. The root is Greek "nephelē," meaning "cloud," which also gave English "nephelometer," an instrument for measuring the turbidity of a liquid or the density of particles in the air. The suffix "-logy," from Greek "-logia," denotes a field of study, as in "geology" or "biology." Unlike many words that passed through centuries of common speech, "nephelology" is a relatively modern technical coinage, formed by combining these classical elements on the model of existing scientific terms. Its use is largely confined to meteorological and scientific writing, where a precise name for the study of clouds was useful alongside more general terms such as "meteorology."

Synonyms: nephology