endocrinology

noun

en·​do·​cri·​nol·​o·​gy ˌen-də-kri-ˈnä-lə-jē 

-ˌkrī-

: a branch of medicine concerned with the structure, function, and disorders of the endocrine glands

endocrinologist

ˌen-də-kri-ˈnä-lə-jist 

-ˌkrī-

noun

Examples of endocrinology in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

By Rebecca Schneid December 14, 2024 9:00 AM EST Michael Haller, a professor and chief of pediatric endocrinology at the University of Florida, has experience in working around threats to gender-affirming health care. —Rebecca Schneid, TIME, 14 Dec. 2024

Shyamala Harris was born in Chennai, India, and moved to California after graduating from the University of Delhi to pursue a doctorate in nutrition and endocrinology at Berkeley. —Samantha Putterman, Austin American-Statesman, 22 Nov. 2024

Gopalan, for her part, completed a Ph.D. in nutrition and endocrinology and specialized in the study of breast cancer. —Evan Osnos, The New Yorker, 13 Oct. 2024

Reporters spoke with more than 50 experts – in nutrition, endocrinology, psychology, exercise physiology and neuroscience – and people who are intimately familiar with the challenges of extra pounds. —Sara Chernikoff, USA TODAY, 26 Sep. 2024

Word History

Etymology

probably borrowed from Italian endocrinologia, from endocrine endocrine entry 1 + -o- -o- + -logia -logy

Note: According to some sources coined by the Italian physician Nicola Pende (1880-1970) in 1909 (e.g., in Garabed Eknoyan, "Emergence of the concept of endocrine function and endocrinology," Advances in Chronic Kidney Disease, vol. 11, no. 4 [October, 2004], p. 375), though without bibliographic citation. Pende used the word in the title of his treatise Endocrinologia: patologia e clinica degli organi a secrezione interna (Milan and Bologna, 1916).

First Known Use

circa 1913, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

endocrinology

noun

en·​do·​cri·​nol·​o·​gy ˌen-də-kri-ˈnäl-ə-jē, -ˌkrī- 

plural endocrinologies

: a science dealing with the endocrine glands

endocrinologist

-jəst 

noun