noun · 2 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.
Received-Pronunciation:sō-shē-ŏl′-əjē
Received-Pronunciation:/ˌsəʊsiːˈɒləd͡ʒiː/
Received-Pronunciation:/ˌsəʊʃiːˈɒləd͡ʒiː/
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
CMU ARPABET:S OW2 S IY0 AA1 L AH0 JH IY0
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 1
A social science that studies society, human social interaction, patterns of social relationships, and the interactions of culture. Through both theory and applied research, it engages subject matters across a range of microanalysis, mesoanalysis, and macroanalysis.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
the study and classification of human societies
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: social science
Narrower terms: criminology, demography, human ecology, psephology, sociometry
History
Etymology
From French sociologie, coined by Auguste Comte in 1834, itself a combination of Latin socius (“companion, fellowship”) and the Greek suffix Ancient Greek -λογία (-logía), itself from Ancient Greek λόγος (lógos, “word, knowledge”), from socio- + -logy. Previous mentions of the field in English usually referred to it as social physics.
Across languages
Translations
116 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Afrikaans:
sosiologie
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Albanian:
sociologji
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Antillean Creole:
sosioloji
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Arabic:
عِلْم الْمُجْتَمَع
(ʕilm al-mujtamaʕ)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Aragonese:
sociolochía
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Aragonese:
soziolochía
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Armenian:
սոցիոլոգիա
(socʻiologia)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Armenian:
հասարակագիտություն
(hasarakagitutʻyun)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Assamese:
সমাজ বিজ্ঞান
(xomaz biggan)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Azerbaijani:
اجتماعيات
(ijtimāeiāt)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Azerbaijani:
ictimaiyyat
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Azerbaijani:
sosiologiya
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Basque:
soziologia
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Belarusian:
сацыяло́гія
(sacyjalóhija)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Belarusian:
сацыялёгія
(sacyjaljóhija)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Belarusian:
грамадазна́ўства
(hramadaznáwstva)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Bengali:
সমাজবিজ্ঞান
(śomajbiggên)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Bulgarian:
социоло́гия
(sociológija)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Burmese:
လူမှုဗေဒ
(luhmu.beda.)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Catalan:
sociologia
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Chinese Cantonese:
社會學 /社会学
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Chinese Mandarin:
社會學 /社会学
(shèhuìxué)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Corsican:
suciolugia
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Corsican:
sociolugia
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Corsican:
suciulugia
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Czech:
sociologie
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Danish:
sociologi
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Dutch:
sociologie
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Esperanto:
sociologio
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Estonian:
sotsioloogia
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Faroese:
samfelagsfrøði
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Faroese:
sosiologi
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Finnish:
sosiologia
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
French:
sociologie
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
West-Frisian:
sosjology
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Galician:
socioloxía
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Georgian:
სოციოლოგია
(sociologia)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
German:
Soziologie
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
German:
Gesellschaftskunde
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Greek:
κοινωνιολογία
(koinoniología)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Gujarati:
સમાજશાસ્ત્ર
(samājśāstra)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Hebrew:
סוֹצִיוֹלוֹגִיָה
(sotsyológya)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Hindi:
समाजशास्त्र
(samājśāstra)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Hungarian:
szociológia
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Icelandic:
félagsfræði
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Ido:
sociologio
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Indonesian:
sosiologi
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Irish:
socheolaíocht
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Italian:
sociologia
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Japanese:
社会学
(shakaigaku)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Kannada:
ಸಮಾಜಶಾಸ್ತ್ರ
(samājaśāstra)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Kazakh:
әлеуметтану
(äleumettanu)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Khmer:
សង្គមវិទ្យា
(sɑngkumvɨttyiə)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Khmer:
សិក្សាសង្គម
(səksaa sɑngkum)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Korean:
사회학
(sahoehak)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Northern Kurdish:
civaknasî
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Kyrgyz:
социология
(sotsiologiya)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Lao:
ສັງຄົມສາດ
(sang khom sāt)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Lao:
ສັງຄົມວິທະຍາ
(sang khom wi tha nyā)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Latin:
sociologia
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Latvian:
socioloģija
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Lithuanian:
sociologija
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Macedonian:
социологија
(sociologija)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Malay:
sosiologi
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Malay:
ilmu masyarakat
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Malayalam:
സമൂഹശാസ്ത്രം
(samūhaśāstraṁ)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Maltese:
soċjoloġija
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Māori:
mātauranga hapori
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Marathi:
समाजशास्त्र
(samājśāstra)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Mongolian:
социологи
(sociologi)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Nepali:
समाजशास्त्र
(samājaśāstra)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Norwegian Bokmål:
sosiologi
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Norwegian Nynorsk:
sosiologi
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Occitan:
sociologia
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Pashto:
ټولنپوهنه
(ṭolənpohəna)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Pashto:
سوسيولوژي
(sosioloži)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Pashto:
سوسيالوجي
(sosiāloji)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Persian:
جامِعِهشِناسی
(jâme'e-šenâsi)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Persian:
سوسیولوژی
(sosiyoloži)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Polish:
socjologia
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Portuguese:
sociologia
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Punjabi:
ਸਮਾਜ ਸ਼ਾਸਤਰ
(samāj śāstar)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Romanian:
sociologie
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Russian:
социоло́гия
(sociológija)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Russian:
обществове́дение
(obščestvovédenije)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Sardinian:
sotziologia
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Sardinian:
sotziolozia
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Scots:
sociologie
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Scots:
sociology
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Scottish Gaelic:
eòlas-comainn
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Serbo-Croatian:
социоло̀гија
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Serbo-Croatian:
sociològija
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Slovak:
sociológia
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Slovene:
sociologija
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Spanish:
sociología
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Swahili:
sosholojia
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Swedish:
sociologi
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Tagalog:
sosyolohiya
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Tajik:
ҷамъиятшиносӣ
(jam'iyatšinosi)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Tajik:
сотсиология
(sotsiologiya)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Tajik:
ҷомеашиносӣ
(jomeašinosi)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Tamil:
சமூகவியல்
(camūkaviyal)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Tatar:
социология
(sotsiyologiyä)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Telugu:
సామాజిక శాస్త్రం
(sāmājika śāstraṁ)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Thai:
สังคมวิทยา
(sǎng-kom-wít-tá-yaa)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Turkish:
sosyoloji
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Turkmen:
sosiologiýa
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Ukrainian:
соціоло́гія
(sociolóhija)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Ukrainian:
суспільствозна́вство
(suspilʹstvoznávstvo)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Urdu:
عِمْرانِیّات
('imrāniyyāt)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Urdu:
سَماجِیات
(samājiyāt)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Uyghur:
جەمئىيەتشۇناسلىق
(jem'iyetshunasliq)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Uzbek:
sotsiologiya
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Vietnamese:
xã hội học
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Welsh:
cymdeithaseg
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
Yiddish:
סאָציאָלאָגיע
(sotsyologye)
— study of society, human social interactions, etc.
