English

technology

Technology is a learned borrowing of Ancient Greek τεχνολογία ‘systematic treatment’, from τεχνολόγος, from τέχνη ‘art’ + -λογία.

Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEτεχνολόγος¹tekhnológos‘treating by rules of art’
Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEτεχνολογία¹tekhnología‘systematic treatment’
Englishearliest quotation 1981technology¹

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

¹ Wiktionary, English technology
Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1981, Cyril Stanley Smith, A Search for Structure: Selected Essays on Science: “Nearly everyone believes, falsely, that technology is applied science…”.

Lineage

Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEτεχνολόγος1Wiktionary, English technologytekhnológos‘treating by rules of art’
Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEτεχνολογία1Wiktionary, English technologytekhnología‘systematic treatment’
Englishearliest quotation 1981technology1Wiktionary, English technology. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1981, Cyril Stanley Smith, A Search for Structure: Selected Essays on Science: “Nearly everyone believes, falsely, that technology is applied science…”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with technology, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- ‘to gather, collect, with derivatives meaning to speak by carefully selecting one's words’

election ← eleccioun ← eleccioun ← ēlectiōn- ← ēlectiō
collection ← colleccioun ← collēctiō ← collēctus ← colligō
lesson ← lessoun ← leçon ← lēctiō ← legō
eligible ← eligibilis ← ēligō ← legō ← *legō
select ← sēlēctus ← sēlegō ← legō ← *legō
elite ← elit ← elit ← ēligō ← legō
collect ← collecten ← collecter ← collectare ← collecta
logic ← logike ← logicus ← λογῐκός ← λόγος
elegant ← elegaunt ← ēlegāns ← legō ← *legō
legion ← legiō ← legō ← *legō ← *léǵeti
elect ← ēlēctus ← ēligō ← legō ← *legō
coil ← coilen ← coillir ← colligō ← legō

240 more relatives in the full family tree

No ads, ever.

Become a founding member, $29 once I have a code

Explore everything descended from τεχνολόγος →

No ads, ever. This is how the app stays alive.

Become a founding member, $29 once Wear this word, $32 Support the app

Today it means

noun The combined application of science and art in practical ways in industry, as for example in designing new machines.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “technology”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Ancient Greek τεχνολόγος / technology