quantification

Etymology

It is formed from English quantify + -fication,^[2][3][4] on the model of qualify and qualification.^[5][6] The OED compares Medieval Latin quantificatio (“action of measuring, measurement”), recorded in British sources from the 14th century.^[2] Quantify is from Medieval Latin quantificō (“to determine the quantity of, measure”),^[2][4] from Latin quantus (“how great, as much”) and the combining form of faciō (“to make”).^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In logic, the ascription of universal or particular quantity to a term or a proposition: the OED's first record is a letter of 28 December 1846 from Sir William Hamilton to Augustus De Morgan.^[2] The 1989 edition of the OED and Merriam-Webster dated the word to about 1840,^[7][5] and Etymonline to 1847.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word began as a term of logic, tied to Hamilton's doctrine of the "quantification of the predicate", in which the quantity of the predicate is made explicit by prefixing all or some to it.^[5][2] From 1851 it was also used generally for the action of quantifying something, measuring it or expressing it as an amount.^[2][4] In modern symbolic logic it is the forming of a statement by prefixing a quantifier to a sentential function, or the statement so formed, and quantification theory deals with quantifiers.^[5][7][3]

Timeline

• 1846 – logic, the ascription of quantity to a term or proposition.^[2] The 1989 edition of the OED and Merriam-Webster dated it to about 1840.^[7][5]
• 1851 – the action of quantifying something in general; an instance of this.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act or process of measuring something or expressing it as a quantity; an instance of this: The quantification of the risks took several months.^[2][3][5]
2. (logic) The use of a quantifier such as all or some to state the scope of a term or a variable; a statement formed in this way.^[5][3][2]

Word family

• quantificational
• quantificationally

Related words

• quantify
• quantity
• quantum
• qualification

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
7. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press