Basic Details
Word: Biography
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: The story of a person's life, written by someone else.
Synonyms: life story, life
Word origin: Comes from Greek bios, 'life', and graphia, 'writing'.
How to Spell Biography
Syllables: bi - og - ra - phy
Tricky part: The f sound is spelt ph, and the vowel after the r is a. Biografy and biogrophy are the usual slips.
Watch out for: biografy, biogrophy, bigraphy
Memory tip: Join two words you know from science: bio, as in biology, and graph. Then add y: bio + graph + y.
Usage Examples
Example 1: I am reading a biography of the scientist C. V. Raman for my book review.
Example 2: The film is based on a biography of a famous Indian boxer.
Example 3: Grandpa says someone should write his biography because his life has been so full of adventure.
Fun Fact
When people write the story of their own lives, it is called an autobiography. Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography is titled The Story of My Experiments with Truth.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Choose the letters that complete the word:
b_ogr_phy
a) i, a
b) e, a
c) y, a
d) i, o
Show answer
a) i, a. The word opens with bio, meaning life, and graph keeps its a.
Mingle-Mangle
Unscramble the jumbled word in the sentence and choose the correct word:
Neha found a thick hyroagbip of Kalpana Chawla in the school library.
a) biography
b) choreography
c) geography
d) bibliography
Show answer
a) biography. Nine letters, one b and an i: geography has no b and bibliography is far longer.
Spell-o-Spell
Three of these words are spelt correctly. Choose the meaning of the misspelt word:
1. diary 2. biograpy 3. novel 4. memoir
a) a daily record of one's own experiences
b) an account a writer gives of events from their own life
c) a long invented story in a book
d) the story of a person's life written by someone else
Show answer
d) the story of a person's life written by someone else. Biograpy has lost the h of graph, so it is the misspelt one.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Who usually writes a biography?
a) a newspaper editor only
b) someone other than the subject
c) the subject of the book
d) a group of children
Show answer
b) someone other than the subject
2. A biographer is a person who ____.
a) draws maps
b) studies living cells
c) repairs books
d) writes life stories
Show answer
d) writes life stories
