Etymology: < -ologist (in geologist n., etc.); compare -o- connective, -logist comb. form, and -ology comb. form.Formations with a first element of Latin or Greek origin and this terminal element are found from the early 18th cent., e.g. demonologist n., heresiologist n. (both also interpretable as having a naturalized first element); the first formations with a purely English first element are from the same period, e.g. trickologist n. at trickology n. Derivatives. Formations on classical elements continue to appear in the 19th and 20th centuries, e.g. acarologist n., arachnologist n. at arachnological adj. Derivatives, criminologist n., leprologist n., malariologist n. Formations on English elements in the earlier 19th cent. tend to be humorous, e.g. bumpologist n., crazyologist n., turnipologist n. at turnip n. Derivatives, coined in derision of the new mental sciences, and mixologist n.; but more serious coinages begin to appear later in the century, such as musicologist n. and organologist n., and a series of words based on geographical or ethnic terms, beginning with Egyptologist n. at Egyptology n. Derivatives. This continues into the 20th cent. although most such formations tend not to be used as the names of formal disciplines; examples are escapologist n., herbologist n., Ripperologist n., and robotologist n. at robotology n. Derivatives. Many of these formations, including most of those cited above, appear earlier than or without a corresponding formation in -ology.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, March 2004; most recently modified version published online December 2018).
comb. form