microscopy

American  

[mahy-kros-kuh-pee, mahy-kruh-skoh-pee] / maɪˈkrɒs kə pi, ˈmaɪ krəˌskoʊ pi /

noun

1. the use of the microscope.

2. microscopic investigation.

---

microscopy British  

/ maɪˈkrɒskəpɪ, maɪˈkrɒskəpɪst /

noun

1. the study, design, and manufacture of microscopes

2. investigation by use of a microscope

---

Other Word Forms

• microscopist
  noun

Etymology

Origin of microscopy

First recorded in 1655–65; microscope + -y ³

Explanation

Microscopy is the field of using a special instrument to observe things that are otherwise too small to see. If you yearn to study amoebas or bacteria up close, you'll want to pursue microscopy! Microscopy is an area of scientific research that specializes in using microscopes. Both words are derived from the Greek roots mikros, "small," and skopein, "to examine." While microscopy is a technical field, if you make a habit of examining tiny things up close with the help of a microscope — drops of rainwater, an insect wing, your cat's fur — that's microscopy too.

Example Sentences

The study is a truly interdisciplinary collaboration between the Bertarelli Platform for Gene Therapy of Bernard Schneider and the group of Anders Meibom at EPFL, with support from EPFL's Bioelectron Microscopy Core Facility.

From Science Daily • Sep. 29, 2023

I never thought I'd touch a piece of the Moon, but that's what's in my hand at the Plymouth Electron Microscopy Centre.

From BBC • May 13, 2022

Let’s start where Szczerba started: he based his article on a new paper published in the Journal of Microscopy and Ultrastructure, titled “Why children absorb more microwave radiation than adults: The consequences.”

From Forbes • Jan. 20, 2015

Uli Dahmen, head of the US National Center for Electron Microscopy in Berkeley, where the microscope is housed, says that Miao’s team is close to mapping nanoparticles in three dimensions.

From Nature • Jul. 10, 2013

In his, Microscopy of vegetable foods, New York, 1916.

From All About Coffee by Ukers, William H. (William Harrison)