aetiology

Etymology

From Latin aetiologia, from Ancient Greek αἰτιολογία (aitiología), from αἰτία (aitía, “cause”); surface analysis, aetio- + -logy; Doublet of aetiologia.

noun

1. The establishment of a cause, origin, or reason for something.
   I do not know where the idea first arose of enlisting internal (subjective) excitations of the sensory organs as well as external sensory stimuli; but it is in fact done in all the more recent accounts of the aetiology of dreams [translating Traumätiologie]. 1999, Sigmund Freud, translated by Joyce Crick, The Interpretation of Dreams, I.c
2. The study of causes or causation.
3. (medicine, uncountable) The study or investigation of the causes of disease; a scientific explanation for the origin of a disease.
4. (medicine, countable) A cause of disease or of any particular case of a disease (but see pathology § Usage notes).