Other forms: studies, studied, studying
To study is to spend time learning about a subject. Study French, study for an exam, study at university. It is the general word, and it implies effort over time rather than a single act.
Study and learn are not the same: you study a subject and learn a fact, and studying is the activity while learning is the result. British students revise for exams; Americans study for them. The noun is just as busy: a study is a piece of research, a preparatory drawing, and a room at home for working in. The plural studies means a course of learning, and in a title — Media Studies — it is the standard way to name an academic field.
1verbstudyTo spend time learning about a subject.
“She studied law for four years.”
2verblookTo look at something very carefully.
“He studied the map for a long time before setting off.”
3nounresearchA piece of research.
“The study followed two thousand children for a decade.”
4nounroomA room in a house used for reading and working.
“He was in the study with the door shut.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
study is a way of learning.
Latin studium meant eagerness or zeal before it meant learning, from studere, to be eager. A student is literally somebody who is keen, which is a cheerful thing for the word to have started as.
Proto-Indo-European
*(s)tewd-
Middle English
studien
English, today
study
From Middle English studien. Middle English studien, from Old French estudier (Modern étudier), from estudie, from Latin studium. cneordlæcan.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA