"one who studies or is versed in the knowledge of microbes," 1882, from microbiology + -ist.
Entries linking to microbiologist
microbiology n.
"the science of micro-organisms," 1880, coined in English from micro- + biology. Related: Microbiological.
-ist
word-forming element meaning "one who does or makes," also used to indicate adherence to a certain doctrine or custom, from French -iste and directly from Latin -ista (source also of Spanish, Portuguese, Italian -ista), from Greek agent-noun ending -istes, which is from -is-, ending of the stem of verbs in -izein, + agential suffix -tes.
Variant -ister (as in chorister, barrister) is from Old French -istre, on false analogy of ministre. Variant -ista is from Spanish, popularized in American English 1970s by names of Latin-American revolutionary movements.