technology

Definitions

techn (craft, skill) + -logy (study of) = literally 'the study of the practical arts.' At first it meant a treatise or systematic discussion *about* craft. Through the Industrial Revolution the word slid from the discussion to the thing itself — the machines, tools, and applied science that craft produces. So a word that meant 'talking about skill' came to mean 'the products of skill.'

Why It Means This

Technology is one of those words whose modern meaning has drifted far from its parts. The -logy ending (as in biology, geology) means 'the study of,' so technology should mean 'the study of craft' — and for a long time it did, naming books and lectures about the practical arts. But as machines reshaped the 1800s, English speakers stopped pointing at the discussion and started pointing at the machines. Today nobody hears 'study of' in technology at all; they hear smartphones, factories, and software. The scholarly word for analyzing skill became the everyday word for the gadgets that skill creates.

Common Collocations

• 1.information technology信息技术
• 2.advanced technology先进技术
• 3.cutting-edge technology尖端技术
• 4.technology industry科技产业
• 5.new technology新技术

Example Sentences

• 1.

  Advances in technology have changed how we communicate.

• 2.

  The company invests heavily in new technology each year.

• 3.

  She works in the information technology department.

• 4.

  This printing technology was unknown a century ago.