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critic

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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

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