zoological

American  

[zoh-uh-loj-i-kuhl] / ˌzoʊ əˈlɒdʒ ɪ kəl /

Often zoologic

adjective

1. of or relating to zoology.

2. relating to or concerned with animals.

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Other Word Forms

• nonzoologic adjective
• nonzoological adjective
• nonzoologically adverb
• pseudozoological adjective
• zoologically adverb

Etymology

Origin of zoological

First recorded in 1800–10; zoolog(y) + -ical

Explanation

Anything zoological is about animals. It’s logical that you’d use the word at a zoo, where critters and beasts hang out. This is an easy word to remember if you think about zoos. In fact, zoo is short for Zoological Gardens, the first of which was created by the London Zoological Society to house the society’s wild animals. Zoo comes from the Greek word for animal, zoion, plus -ology for “the study of” and then -ical, an ending that makes the word an adjective. If you’re describing something that has to do with the study of animals, zoological is your word.

Example Sentences

Belgium's AfricaMuseum is the country's biggest dedicated to the Congo, displaying millions of colonial-era objects and zoological specimens.

From Barron's • Feb. 12, 2026

It is unclear what caused the caller’s zoological mix-up.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 28, 2025

We, and anything structured remotely like us, are in the zoological minority.

From Slate • Jul. 18, 2024

"This has been a zoological mystery for centuries," said Lowe, who is also a researcher at Hopkins Marine Station and senior author of the paper that published Nov. 1 in Nature.

From Science Daily • Nov. 1, 2023

The last fact wasn’t actually disappointing, but a point of zoological interest.

From "Klawde: Evil Alien Warlord Cat" by Johnny Marciano and Emily Chenoweth

Related Words

• bodily
• natural