Etymologically
Log in

optimization

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the English word optimization

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1857 Leigh Hunt, letter to Browning
Ultimate origin
Latin optimus

Pronunciation

  • US: /ˌɑptəmaɪˈzeɪʃən/, /-məˈzeɪʃən/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English optimize + -ation.[2][3][4] The verb optimize, in the sense "to make the best or most of", was formed in 1817 from Latin optimus (“best”) and -ize,[2][5] or, according to Barnhart, from optimum.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action of making the best of something: 1857, in a letter of Leigh Hunt to Robert Browning,[2][3][7] the writer who had also used the verb first, in 1817.[2]

Semantic evolution

The OED defines the noun broadly, as making the best of something, making something optimal, or the state of being optimal.[2] Its modern technical uses follow those of the verb, which took the sense "to make as good or effective as possible" in 1941, in the American Economic Review, and "to carry out a process of optimization" in 1988;[2] in computing optimize is used of making a program as efficient as possible.[8] Wiktionary records the noun in mathematics, of finding the best solution among all those allowed by given constraints, and in programming.[1]

Timeline

  • 1817 – the verb optimize, to make the most of.[2]
  • 1857 – noun, the action of making the best of something.[2][3][7]
  • 1941 – the verb optimize, to make as good or effective as possible.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The act or process of making something as good, efficient or effective as possible, or the state of being so: the optimization of the delivery routes.[7][2]
  2. (computing) The work of making a program use as little time, memory or other resources as possible.[8][1]
  3. (mathematics) The finding of the best solution from all those allowed by given constraints.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  7. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
Cite this entry

“Optimization.” Etymologically, 26 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/optimization. Accessed 26 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·