criterion

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek κριτήριον (kritḗrion, “a means of judging, test, standard”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from κριτής (kritḗs, “judge”),^[2][3][4][7] from κρίνω (krī́nō, “to separate, decide, judge”).^[5][7][8][9] Dictionary.com analyses the Greek noun as the stem of the verb with a neuter suffix naming a means, akin to Latin -tōrium, the source of -tory.^[10] Etymonline and Wiktionary take the English word through a Latinized form, New Latin criterion,^[11][1] and Etymonline traces the Greek verb to Proto-Indo-European *krei- (“to sieve”), hence "to discriminate, distinguish".^[11][5] In the 17th century the word was often written in Greek letters;^[2][3] Barnhart records it in Latin letters from 1661, and a Latinized form criterium from before 1631, in Donne, which was used now and then until the late 19th century.^[3] It is related to critic, critical and crisis.^[7][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A distinguishing mark or feature by which a thing can be judged: 1613, in T. Jackson's Eternall Truth of Scriptures, a sense the OED marks obsolete after 1678.^[2] Etymonline dates its use as a Greek word in English to the 1610s, and the naturalized word to the 1660s.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The main modern sense, a test, rule or standard by which something is judged, is recorded from 1622, in a sermon by Bishop Joseph Hall,^[2][12] and Dictionary.com dates the word to 1605–15.^[10] From 1647 to 1678 it could also mean the faculty or organ of judging, in Henry More's Philosophicall Poems.^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as a mark by which anything is judged of with regard to its goodness or badness.^[13] In philosophy the word also names a defining characteristic of something,^[8] and Webster's Third gives "a characterizing mark or trait" as its first sense.^[9] The Greek plural criteria has remained the usual one, beside the rarer criterions.^[5][12][1]

Timeline

• 1613 – a distinguishing mark by which a thing is judged (obsolete by 1678); often written in Greek letters.^[2][3]
• 1622 – a test, rule or standard of judgement.^[2][12]
• before 1631 – the Latinized form criterium, in Donne.^[3]
• 1647 – a faculty or organ of judging (obsolete by 1678).^[2]
• 1661 – first record in Latin letters.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A standard, rule or test by which something is judged or a decision is made: Cost was the only criterion they used in choosing a school.^{[12][8][5][2]}
2. A requirement that has to be met in a judgement or evaluation.^[12]
3. (philosophy) A defining characteristic of something.^[8][9]

Word family

• criterial

Related words

• crisis
• critic
• criticize
• critical

Usage notes

Criterion is singular and criteria its plural, as with phenomenon;^[5][14][8] Collins and the Concise Oxford treat criteria used as a singular ("a criteria") as a mistake.^[8][14] The plural criterions also exists but is much less common.^[1][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ a b c Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
10. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press