astrology

Alternative forms

• astrol. (abbreviation)

Etymology

From Middle French astrologie, and its source, Latin astrologia (“astronomy”), from Ancient Greek ἀστρολογία (astrología, “telling of the stars”), from ἄστρον (ástron, “star, planet, or constellation”) + -λογία (-logía, “treating of”), combination form of -λόγος (-lógos, “one who speaks (in a certain manner)”). Morphologically astro- +‎ -logy.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /əˈstɹɒlədʒi/
• Rhymes: -ɒlədʒi

Noun

astrology (usually uncountable, plural astrologies)

Acta eruditorum, 1716

1. Divination about human affairs or natural phenomena from the relative positions of celestial bodies. [from 14th c.]
   • c. 1390, Geoffrey Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, Harleian manuscript:

     a pore scoler / had lerned art but al his fantasye / was torned for to lerne astrologye […].

   • 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society 2012, p. 274:

     For if astronomy is the study of the movements of the heavens, then astrology is the study of the effects of those movements.

   • 2012, The Guardian, (headline), 7 Feb 2012:

     Followers of pseudosciences such as astrology often draw spurious parallels between their beliefs and established science.

See also

• astronomy

Further reading

• astrology on Wikipedia.Wikipedia