critic

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈkrɪt.ɪk/, US /ˈkrɪt̬.ɪk/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French critique and Latin criticus (“a judge, censor, literary critic”),^[2][3][4] from Ancient Greek κριτικός (kritikós, “able to judge”),^[2][3][5] from κριτής (kritḗs, “judge”),^[5][6] from κρίνω (krínō, “to separate, decide, judge”) (see crisis and criterion).^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

One who passes judgement on something or someone, especially severely: 1588, in Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost;^[2][7] the 1580s in Etymonline.^[3]

Semantic evolution

One who judges the merits of books, plays and other works is from 1605, in Francis Bacon,^[2][7] or about 1600 in Etymonline, which adds that the English word has always carried overtones of a fault-finder.^[3] An adjective critic was used in medicine for the crisis of a disease from 1544, and for censorious from 1598.^[7] A noun critic also meant criticism (1656) and a critical essay (1709);^[7] in these senses it was later spelled critique, after the French.^[5] Critical is from 1590, criticism from 1607 and criticize from 1649, in Milton.^[2] The 17th century called an inferior critic a criticaster.^[3]

Timeline

• 1544 – critic (adjective, medicine).^[7]
• 1588 – one who passes judgement.^[2][7]
• 1590 – critical.^[2]
• 1605 – a judge of literature and art.^[2][7]
• 1607 – criticism; to critic (verb).^[2][7]
• 1649 – criticize.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A person who forms and expresses judgements of the merits and faults of something.
2. A professional reviewer of literature, art, music, film or the theatre.
3. A person who tends to find fault; a censurer.

Word family

• criticaster
• hypercritic
• supercritic
• textual critic

Related words

• crisis
• criticism
• critical
• critical mass
• criticize
• criticise
• critique
• criterion

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press