Etymologically
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technique

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 00:57. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /tekˈniːk/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French technique (“formal details of artistic expression”),[2][3] a noun use of the adjective technique “of art, technical”,[2][3] from a Latinized form of Ancient Greek τεχνικός (tekhnikós, “pertaining to art”),[2][3] from tékhnē “art, skill, craft”.[2] It is related to technical and technology.[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The manner of artistic execution or performance: 1817 in the OED, Barnhart and MWU, in Coleridge's Biographia Literaria.[4][3][5]

Semantic evolution

At first it was used especially in criticism of art and music,[2] and it then spread to the methods of any skill or science.[6][7] Skill in sexual relations is from 1921.[4]

Timeline

  • 1817 – artistic execution.[4][3]
  • 1921 – sexual technique.[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A particular way of doing something, especially one that needs skill.
  2. Skill in the basic, practical parts of an art, sport or other activity.

Word family

  • microtechnique
  • Alexander technique
  • twelve-tone technique

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins