Standard Lemma guide

psephology

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /sɪˈfɒl.ə.d͡ʒi/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: /sɪˈfɑl.ə.d͡ʒi/

1

noun

Meaning 1

The predictive or statistical study of elections.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

An ancient Greek method of numerology, similar to gematria.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

the branch of sociology that studies election trends (as by opinion polls)

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: sociology

History

Etymology

From psepho- (“pebble”) + -ology (“study of”), drawing on the various definitions of Ancient Greek ψῆφος (psêphos, “pebble used for reckoning; pebble used for casting a vote”). The sense relating to elections was coined in 1948 by Frank Hardie.

Across languages

Translations

13 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Burmese: ဝရဏဗေဒ (wa.ra.na.beda.) — the predictive or statistical study of elections
  • Dutch: psefologie — the predictive or statistical study of elections
  • Dutch: bestudering van het kiezersgedrag — the predictive or statistical study of elections
  • Finnish: vaalitutkimus — the predictive or statistical study of elections
  • Finnish: psepologia — the predictive or statistical study of elections
  • French: pséphologie — the predictive or statistical study of elections
  • Georgian: პსეფოლოგია (ṗsepologia) — the predictive or statistical study of elections
  • German: Psephologie — the predictive or statistical study of elections
  • Italian: psefologia — the predictive or statistical study of elections
  • Persian: انتخاباتپژوهی (entexâbât-pažuhi) — the predictive or statistical study of elections
  • Russian: псефология (psefologija) — the predictive or statistical study of elections
  • Spanish: psefología — the predictive or statistical study of elections
  • Thai: วิทยาการเลือกตั้ง (wít-tá-yaa-gaan-lʉ̂ʉak-dtâng) — the predictive or statistical study of elections