Buttonology
noun, slang ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 The study of buttons (clothing fasteners and badges). uncountable
"We're masters "buttonology" — of experimentation, of keeping pace with far-sighted fashion trends — are climaxed in a new Spring line which we present to the trade as worthy of representing our Golden Jubilee."
- 2 An exaggerated and pointlessly pedantic systematization, especially of something trivial. derogatory, uncountable
"In the short story De lycksaliges ö from 1890 there is a satire on the Historical Museum in Stockholm , where archaeology with its typological method is characterized as a “ buttonology " ( Strindberg 1890 : 116ff ; cf. Welinder 1994 : 297ff , 320ff )"
- 3 The basic training required to start using a machine or piece of software: what the components of the interface are, what they do, and how to accomplish basic tasks. informal, uncountable
"But if he does know his buttonology, there is much pleasure and profit for him in amateur picture-taking."
- 4 User interface US, slang, uncountable
"“The [controller] that will go in theater . . . is just a tad bigger . . . but all the same buttonology, but it’s ruggedized for the environment,” Raulerson said."
Example
More examples"We're masters "buttonology" — of experimentation, of keeping pace with far-sighted fashion trends — are climaxed in a new Spring line which we present to the trade as worthy of representing our Golden Jubilee."
Etymology
From button + -ology. In the sense of pedantic systematization, a calque of Swedish knappologi with the same literal meaning.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.