endocrinology

noun

en·​do·​cri·​nol·​o·​gy ˌen-də-kri-ˈnä-lə-jē 

-ˌkrī-

: a branch of medicine concerned with the structure, function, and disorders of the endocrine glands

endocrinologist

ˌen-də-kri-ˈnä-lə-jist 

-ˌkrī-

noun

Examples of endocrinology in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Reporters spoke with more than 50 experts – in nutrition, endocrinology, psychology, exercise physiology and neuroscience – and people who are intimately familiar with the challenges of extra pounds. —Sara Chernikoff, USA TODAY, 26 Sep. 2024

However, lab research suggests that EGCG blocks pathways involved in tumor formation, says Dr. James Segars, a cancer researcher and head of the reproductive endocrinology unit at Johns Hopkins. —Matt Fuchs, TIME, 9 Sep. 2024

The effect of intermittent fasting diets on body weight and composition International journal of endocrinology. —Allison Futterman, Discover Magazine, 14 Aug. 2024

For the past year, Suh and Zev Williams, chief of reproductive endocrinology and infertility at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, have been running a clinical trial in women between 35 and 45 years old to test whether low-dose rapamycin can slow ovarian aging. —Celia Ford, Vox, 12 Aug. 2024

Word History

Etymology

probably borrowed from Italian endocrinologia, from endocrine endocrine entry 1 + -o- -o- + -logia -logy

Note: According to some sources coined by the Italian physician Nicola Pende (1880-1970) in 1909 (e.g., in Garabed Eknoyan, "Emergence of the concept of endocrine function and endocrinology," Advances in Chronic Kidney Disease, vol. 11, no. 4 [October, 2004], p. 375), though without bibliographic citation. Pende used the word in the title of his treatise Endocrinologia: patologia e clinica degli organi a secrezione interna (Milan and Bologna, 1916).

First Known Use

circa 1913, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

endocrinology

noun

en·​do·​cri·​nol·​o·​gy ˌen-də-kri-ˈnäl-ə-jē, -ˌkrī- 

plural endocrinologies

: a science dealing with the endocrine glands

endocrinologist

-jəst 

noun