Endocrinology is the field of science concerned with studying hormones and the endocrine system. Once we eliminate the -ology suffix, we're actually left with a word that literally means "secreting internally"! This is because, when the word was coined in 1914, it was composed of the prefix endo-, meaning "inside", and the Ancient Greek word krinein, which meant "separate". The hidden definition of endocrine implies the quality of glands to secrete hormones internally. Endo- comes from Ancient Greek endon, meaning "internal", and, through Proto-Hellenic, this derives from the Proto-Indo-European hendom, "in". Meanwhile, the root krinein also may be traced through Proto-Hellenic to Proto-Indo-European, in this case to the reconstruction krey, meaning "to sift". Usage of the word endocrinology steadily increased until a peak in the early 1980s, however it has recently decreased dramatically, perhaps due to fewer advances in the field nowadays.
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AUTHORHello! I'm Adam Aleksic. This year, I graduated from Harvard University with a degree in Government and Linguistics. There, I co-founded the Harvard Undergraduate Linguistics Society and wrote a thesis on Serbo-Croatian language policy, magna cum laude. In addition to etymology, I also really enjoy trivia, politics, vexillology, geography, board games, conlanging, art history, and law.
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