Etymologically
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scientific

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˌsaɪ.ənˈtɪf.ɪk/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French scientifique or directly from Medieval Latin scientificus (“pertaining to science, producing knowledge”),[2][3][4] from Latin scientia (“knowledge”) and -ficus “making, doing”, from facere “to make, do”,[2][3] from Proto-Indo-European *dhe- (“to set, put”).[2] The Latin word was first used to translate Greek epistēmonikós “making knowledge” in Aristotle's Ethics.[2][5] The OED remarks on its late appearance in English, given that Aquinas, Dante and Oresme used it.[3] It is related to science and scientist.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Concerned with the acquisition of accurate and systematic knowledge: 1589 in the OED and Barnhart, the 1580s in Etymonline.[6][3][2] Its early use described the liberal arts as opposed to the mechanical arts.[4]

Semantic evolution

Of a proof, “producing knowledge, demonstrative”, it is from 1637.[6][7] “Guided by the principles of science”, and so “learned, skilful”, is from the 1670s,[2][6] “of or used in science” from 1722,[2][6] and “according to the rules of science, systematic” from 1794.[2][6] In the United States it was used of Christian Science (1875).[6] Scientist was formed in 1834.[3]

Timeline

  • 1589 – concerned with science.[6][3]
  • 1637 – of a proof.[6]
  • 1678 – based on science.[6]
  • 1722 – of science.[2][6]
  • 1794 – systematic.[2][6]
  • 1834 – scientist.[3]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Of, relating to or used in science.
  2. Following the methods or principles of science; systematic and exact.

Word family

  • scientifically
  • quasi-scientific
  • antiscientific
  • counterscientific
  • nonscientific
  • prescientific
  • scientize
  • superscientific
  • science
  • scientist
  • conscience
  • nescience
  • -fic

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 k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster