Autobiography
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biographynoun
There are three meanings listed in OED's entry for the noun biography. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.
About 10occurrences per million words in modern written English
| 1750 | 0.57 |
| 1760 | 0.32 |
| 1770 | 0.36 |
| 1780 | 0.71 |
| 1790 | 1.4 |
| 1800 | 2.7 |
| 1810 | 2.8 |
| 1820 | 3.1 |
| 1830 | 4.9 |
| 1840 | 5.6 |
| 1850 | 7.9 |
| 1860 | 7.3 |
| 1870 | 7.9 |
| 1880 | 9.5 |
| 1890 | 10 |
| 1900 | 10 |
| 1910 | 9.3 |
| 1920 | 10 |
| 1930 | 12 |
| 1940 | 12 |
| 1950 | 12 |
| 1960 | 12 |
| 1970 | 12 |
| 1980 | 12 |
| 1990 | 12 |
| 2000 | 11 |
| 2010 | 11 |
bigh-OG-ruh-fee
bigh-AH-gruh-fee
Earliest known use
mid 1600s
The earliest known use of the noun biography is in the mid 1600s.
OED's earliest evidence for biography is from 1661, in the writing of John Fell, bishop of Oxford.
biography is a borrowing from Latin.
Etymons:Latinbiographia.
Nearby entries
- biognosy, n.1880
- biograph, n.1825–
- biograph, v.1776–
- biographee, n.1812–
- biographer, n.1644–
- biographic, adj.1752–
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Biography
Written account of a person's life
For other uses, see Biography (disambiguation).
A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curriculum vitae (résumé), a biography presents a subject's life story, highlighting various aspects of their life, including intimate details of experience, and may include an analysis of the subject's personality.
Biographical works are usually non-fiction, but fiction can also be used to portray a person's life. One in-depth form of biographical coverage is called legacy writing. Works in diverse media, from literature to film, form the genre known as biography.
An authorized biography is written with the permission, cooperation, and at times, participation of a subject or a subject's heirs. An unauthorized biography is one written without such permission or participation. An autobiography is written by the person themselves, sometimes w
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biography
So You've Been Asked to Submit a Biography
In a library, the word biography refers both to a kind of book and to a section where books of that kind are found. Each biography tells the story of a real person's life. A biography may be about someone who lived long ago, recently, or even someone who is still living, though in the last case it must necessarily be incomplete. The term autobiography refers to a biography written by the person it's about. Autobiographies are of course also necessarily incomplete.
Sometimes biographies are significantly shorter than a book—something anyone who's been asked to submit a biography for, say, a conference or a community newsletter will be glad to know. Often the word in these contexts is shortened to bio, a term that can be both a synonym of biography and a term for what is actually a biographical sketch: a brief description of a person's life. These kinds of biographies—bios—vary, but many times they are only a few sentences long. Looking at bios that have been used in the same context can be a useful guide in determining
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