bio

bio — noun

1. a short written account of a person's life, often used on social media, websites

1.nounB1
Definition

a short written account of a person's life, often used on social media, websites, or book covers

Example

Ada updated her bio on the company website before the conference.

collocation: update a bio

On the book jacket, the author's bio listed three award-winning novels.

collocation: author's bio

Common collocations
  • short bio
  • brief bio
  • Twitter bio
  • Instagram bio
  • bio page
  • bio section
Synonyms
  • biography

    more formal and usually longer — a full book or article rather than a paragraph

  • profile

    focuses on key facts or a particular angle, common in magazines and newspapers

  • life story

    informal like 'bio', but implies a fuller account of someone's life

Usage Note

Short for 'biography'. A bio is always brief — typically a few sentences or a single paragraph. In formal or academic writing, use 'biography' instead.

Common Mistakes

I read her bio in biology class today.
I read her bio on the back of her novel.
'bio' means a short life story, not the science subject 'biology'.
My bio is four pages long.
My bio is four sentences long
it is just for the conference programme.' — a bio is always short; use 'biography' or 'CV' for longer documents.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Bio, biography, profile, CV, and résumé all describe written accounts about a person, but they differ in length, purpose, and formality. A bio is always short — a few sentences to a paragraph — and appears in informal or digital settings like social media or event programmes. A biography is a full-length book or article about someone's life, often written by another person. A profile is a short article focusing on key facts or a particular angle, common in magazines and newspapers. A CV (curriculum vitae) and résumé are formal career documents listing jobs, education, and skills — they are not about a person's life story. Think of it this way: you write a short bio for a conference programme, read a biography about a president, enjoy a magazine profile of a musician, and send a CV to apply for a job.

biography ↗profile ↗CV ↗résumé

Common collocations

Nouns

  • author bio
  • speaker bio
  • artist bio

Phrases

  • write a bio
  • update your bio

Prepositions

  • bio of
  • bio on
  • bio about

Etymology

GreekEnglish

A shortened form of 'biography', which comes from the Greek roots 'bios' (life) and 'graphein' (to write). The standalone word 'bio' became common in the late twentieth century with the rise of personal profiles in print and digital media.

First known use

1947

1947, in the meaning defined above