we can never say "a terminology"

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Hi,
It seems to me that we can never say “a terminology”. Am I right?

Besides, I also can’t understand when to use thw word “terminology” in the plural.
Please have a look at this sentence (from the OALD):

Scientists are constantly developing new terminologies.

=> According to its aforementioned definition (which is “the set of technical words or expressions used in a particular subject”), I think it bears in itself the plural meaning, so why must we use “terminologies” instead of “terminology” in that sentence?

Many thanks in advance.
Nessie.

2

Nessie, are you familiar with both the uncountable and countable sense of “vocabulary”? It’s the same general situation.

3

Sorry Barb, but… I don’t understand what you mean… (+_+)

4

Hi Nessie,

You can say ‘a terminology’ in the same way that you can say ‘a definition’ or ‘a description’. What’s the problem? Agreed ‘terminology’ is a bundle of special words but then you can also have different types of terminology, can’t you.

Alan

5

Thank you very much, Alan :slight_smile:
I just have one more question for this: when we say “a terminology”, does it mean the same as “a term”?

6

Hi Nessie,

A single term is part of the whole terminology. In football terminology, for example, a ‘utility player’ is a term used to describe a versatile player who can play almost any position. More terms of football terminology include ‘offside’, ‘winger’, ‘diver’, ‘stoppage time’, ‘the box’ etc

7

Thanks a lot, Ralf :slight_smile:
So when we say “a terminology”, we refer to a set of terms in a particular subject?

8

Indeed we do! ‘A data server can be used as a terminology tool to export particular terms (data) easily’.