analytical

Etymology

It is from Medieval Latin analyticus (“analytical”) with the English suffix -al,^[2][3][4][5] the Latin word being used by Boethius in the 6th century,^[2][4][6] borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀναλυτικός (analutikós, “analytical”),^[2][4] from ἀνάλυτος (análutos, “dissolved, dissolvable”), from ἀναλύω (analúō, “to unloose, undo, resolve”),^[2][4][6] from ἀνα- (ana-, “up, back”) and λύω (lúō, “to unfasten”),^[4] from Proto-Indo-European *leu- (“to loosen, divide, cut apart”).^[4] The OED notes that it is recorded earlier than analytic, and that the sense in logic follows German analytisch.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Chiefly in philosophy, employing analysis: 1528, in John Skelton's Replycacion.^[2] Merriam-Webster dates it to about 1525,^[5] and Etymonline to the 1520s.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word followed the uses of analysis into the sciences: it was used of a person or mind given to analysing from before 1652,^[2] of chemical analysis from 1661, in Boyle's Sceptical Chymist,^[2] and in mathematics from 1694.^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as "that which resolves any thing into first principles".^[7] In logic, following Kant's German analytisch, it described from 1797 a statement true by the meaning of its terms alone.^[2][8] In linguistics it described from 1816 a language that uses separate words rather than inflections,^[2] a sense Etymonline dates from 1830.^[4] Library catalogues had analytical entries for parts of a larger work from 1844,^[2] and since 1906 it has also been used for psychoanalytic.^[2]

Timeline

• 1528 – employing analysis, chiefly in philosophy.^[2]
• 1652 – given to or concerned with analysis.^[2]
• 1661 – in chemistry, relating to chemical analysis.^[2]
• 1694 – in mathematics.^[2]
• 1797 – in logic, of a proposition true by definition.^[2]
• 1816 – in linguistics, of a language using particles instead of inflections.^[2]
• 1844 – of a catalogue entry for part of a larger work.^[2]
• 1906 – psychoanalytic.^[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Relating to or using analysis; separating a whole into its parts: an analytical approach to the problem.
2. Skilled in or given to analysing: She has a sharp analytical mind.
3. (chemistry) Relating to chemical analysis, as in analytical chemistry.
4. (logic) Of a proposition, true by virtue of the meanings of its words alone.
5. (linguistics) Of a language, expressing grammatical relations by separate words rather than inflections.
6. (art) Of cubism, breaking a subject down into planes and geometric forms.

Word family

• nonanalytical
• overanalytical
• semianalytical
• unanalytical
• analytical chemistry
• analytical entry

Related words

• analytic
• analysis
• analyse
• analyst
• lysis
• paralysis

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins