mechanics
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Pronunciation
- IPA: /məˈkænɪks/ (US)[1]
Etymology
It is the plural of mechanic with -ics,[2][3] after Late Latin mechanica and Greek μηχανική (mēkhanikḗ, “mechanics”), from mēkhanikós, of machines.[3]
Earliest recorded meaning
The theory of machines: 1612 in MWU, the 1640s in Etymonline;[4][3] the body of theoretical and practical knowledge of machines, the mid-17th century in SOED.[2]
Semantic evolution
As the branch of applied mathematics treating of motion and forces on bodies, it is from 1648 in the OED.[5][3] Manual operations is a rare obsolete sense of 1726.[5] The procedural or operational details of something are from 1925.[5][6]
Timeline
Modern meaning
Noun
- (physics) The branch of science dealing with the action of forces on matter, including statics and dynamics.
- The design, construction and use of machinery.
- The technical or working details of an activity: the mechanics of voting.
Word family
- aeromechanics
- telemechanics
- biomechanics
- hydromechanics
- body mechanics
- celestial mechanics
- classical mechanics
- fluid mechanics
Related words
- mechanic
- mechanical
- machine
- mechanism
References
- ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin