English Explanatory Dictionary

biography

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A person's life story, especially one published.
  2. The art of writing this kind of story.
verb
  1. To write a biography of.

Pronunciation

/baɪˈɒɡɹəfi/ En-biography.oga /baɪˈɑɡɹəfi/ en-us-biography.ogg

Word forms

biography biographies biographying biographied

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *gʷeyh₃-der. Ancient Greek βῐ́ος (bĭ́os) Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ- Proto-Hellenic *grə́pʰō Ancient Greek γράφω (gráphō) Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Ancient Greek -ᾱ (-ā) Ancient Greek -η (-ē) Ancient Greek γραφή (graphḗ) Ancient Greek -γρᾰφῐ́ᾱ (-grăphĭ́ā) Ancient Greek βιογραφίᾱ (biographíā)der. New Latin biographiabor. English biography Borrowed from New Latin biographia, from Ancient Greek βιογραφίᾱ (biographíā), from βῐ́ος (bĭ́os, “life”) + -γρᾰφῐ́ᾱ (-grăphĭ́ā, “writing”).

Related words

biographer biographical biographism hagiography pathography

Derived words

antibiography autobiography biographee biographette biographize biomythography blogography heterobiography minibiography osteobiography photobiography psychobiography
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