This week’s theme
Unusual antonyms

This week’s words
malison
pogonotomy
agnoiology
iteroparous

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(ag-noi-OL-uh-jee)

MEANING:

noun: The study of ignorance or the investigation of the unknowable.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Greek a- (not) + gnosis (knowledge). Earliest documented use: 1854.

NOTES:

For those who prefer knowing that they don’t know, agnoiology has got your back. The opposite is epistemology, the study of knowledge. Both were introduced to the English language by the philosopher James Frederick Ferrier, truly the first agnoiologist + epistemologist if there ever was one.
Then there’s agnotology, in a class of its own.

USAGE:

“Let’s say you have a degree in philematology [the study of kissing] and the guy interviewing you for a job to flip burgers doesn’t know agnoiology from agnotology [the study of culturally-induced ignorance or doubt]. You may have existential angst.”
Samir Geepee; Awesome Cup; Notion Press; 2020.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: