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

Consistent exercise is better than none at all, said Jason Ng, MD, a clinical associate professor of endocrinology and metabolism at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. —Stephanie Brown, Verywell Health, 17 Oct. 2025

Inaccuracies were generally worse among specialties, with 32% of endocrinology listings having wrong information. —Calmatters, Mercury News, 17 Oct. 2025

It also was listed in the top 50 in cancer, cardiology and vascular surgery, diabetes and endocrinology, gastroenterology and gastrointestinal surgery, geriatrics, urology, and neurology and neurosurgery. —Ashley MacKin Solomon, San Diego Union-Tribune, 5 Aug. 2025

Northwestern Memorial Hospital ranked among the top 10 hospitals in the country for cardiology, heart and vascular surgery; diabetes and endocrinology; gastroenterology and GI surgery; geriatrics; neurology and neurosurgery; obstetrics and gynecology; pulmonology and lung surgery; and urology. —Lisa Schencker, Chicago Tribune, 29 July 2025

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

Rhymes for endocrinology

• bacteriology
• biotechnology
• dialectology
• ecclesiology
• epistemology
• geochronology
• geomorphology
• histopathology
• hydrogeology
• kinesiology
• meteorology
• microbiology

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