scatology

American  

[skuh-tol-uh-jee] / skəˈtɒl ə dʒi /

noun

1. the study of or preoccupation with excrement or obscenity.

2. obscenity, especially words or humor referring to excrement.

3. the study of fossil excrement.

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scatology British  

/ skæˈtɒlədʒɪ /

noun

1. the scientific study of excrement, esp in medicine for diagnostic purposes, and in palaeontology of fossilized excrement

2. obscenity or preoccupation with obscenity, esp in the form of references to excrement

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Other Word Forms

• scatologic adjective
• scatological adjective
• scatologist noun

Etymology

Origin of scatology

First recorded in 1875–80; scato- + -logy

Example Sentences

Of course, this is all dangerous bovine scatology.

From Salon • Nov. 3, 2023

I counted only one audible fart in “Flux Gourmet,” which seems a curious show of restraint for a movie in which sound and scatology play such important roles.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 22, 2022

Their scatology paid off: They found well-preserved pollen grains, adding to evidence that cockroaches were important pollinators of cycad trees—the ones that produced the sap that trapped this unlucky creature, a relative of today’s cockroaches.

From Science Magazine • Mar. 10, 2020

I ran this little poetry program in my head again and again, turning out dozens of nonsense limericks, complete with the requisite little-kid scatology.

From The New Yorker • Jan. 7, 2020

When Jean Louise and her brother were children, Atticus had occasionally drawn them a sharp distinction between mere scatology and blasphemy.

From "Go Set a Watchman: A Novel" by Harper Lee