Biography is best defined as latin
biographynoun
There are three meanings listed in OED's entry for the noun biography. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.
About 10occurrences per million words in modern written English
| 1750 | 0.57 |
| 1760 | 0.32 |
| 1770 | 0.36 |
| 1780 | 0.71 |
| 1790 | 1.4 |
| 1800 | 2.7 |
| 1810 | 2.8 |
| 1820 | 3.1 |
| 1830 | 4.9 |
| 1840 | 5.6 |
| 1850 | 7.9 |
| 1860 | 7.3 |
| 1870 | 7.9 |
| 1880 | 9.5 |
| 1890 | 10 |
| 1900 | 10 |
| 1910 | 9.3 |
| 1920 | 10 |
| 1930 | 12 |
| 1940 | 12 |
| 1950 | 12 |
| 1960 | 12 |
| 1970 | 12 |
| 1980 | 12 |
| 1990 | 12 |
| 2000 | 11 |
| 2010 | 11 |
bigh-OG-ruh-fee
bigh-AH-gruh-fee
Earliest known use
mid 1600s
The earliest known use of the noun biography is in the mid 1600s.
OED's earliest evidence for biography is from 1661, in the writing of John Fell, bishop of Oxford.
biography is a borrowing from Latin.
Etymons:Latinbiographia.
Nearby entries
- biognosy, n.1880
- biograph, n.1825–
- biograph biography - Wiktionary, the free dictionary DADI