Oology
[oh-AHL-ə-jee]
Part of speech: noun
Origin: Greek, 19th century
1.
The study or collecting of birds' eggs.
Examples of Oology in a sentence
"The only scientific study Leo seemed interested in was oology."
"Oology can lead to the illegal collection of wild birds’ eggs."
About Oology
This word comes from the combination of “oo-,” a Greek word-forming element meaning “egg” and a cognate with Latin’s “ovum.” This is combined with “-logy,” meaning “a speaking, discourse, treatise, theory, science” from the Greek “-logia.”
Did you Know?
In the 1960s, British naturalist Derek Ratcliffe compared peregrine falcon eggs from historical collections with more recent egg shells and was able to determine a decline in shell thickness over time. This helped establish the link between the use of pesticides and insecticides, and the declining British populations of birds of prey.
