aetiology

Definitions

1. The establishment of a cause, origin, or reason for something.
   countable, uncountable
2. The study of causes or causation.
   countable, uncountable
3. The study or investigation of the causes of disease; a scientific explanation for the origin of a disease.
   uncountable
4. A cause of disease or of any particular case of a disease (but see pathology § Usage notes).
   countable

Equivalents

Examples

“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].”

CEFR level