Geognosy
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The geological study of the Earth's structure and composition. historical, obsolete, uncountable
"Some writers divide Geology into two branches; 1. Geognosy, or Positive Geology, which embraces only the known facts of the science. 2. Geogony, or Speculative Geology, which attempts to point out the causes of those facts, and the inferences that result from them."
Example
More examples"Some writers divide Geology into two branches; 1. Geognosy, or Positive Geology, which embraces only the known facts of the science. 2. Geogony, or Speculative Geology, which attempts to point out the causes of those facts, and the inferences that result from them."
Etymology
From German Geognosie; coined by Abraham Gottlob Werner. By surface analysis, geo- + -gnosy.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.