science English · revision 3448

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1340|origins=la scīre}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈsaɪ.əns/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|science]], [[bor|fro|science|t=knowledge, learning]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[la|scientia|t=knowledge, expertness]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(SOED 2002) from [[m|la|sciēns|t=knowing, skilled]], present participle of [[m|la|scīre|t=to know]].^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2000)^(SOED 2002) Etymonline and Barnhart think the Latin verb originally meant “to separate one thing from another, distinguish”, related to [[m|la|scindere|t=to cut, split]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) from [[ine-pro|*skey-|alt=*skei-|t=to cut, split]].^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2000) Latin ''scīre'' is also in [[conscience]] and [[nice]].^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Knowledge, a branch of learning, skill: about 1340,^(Barnhart 1988) or before 1340 in the OED, as “the state or fact of knowing”.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Word Origins notes that science was originally knowledge in general, or any branch of it, including the arts.^(Cresswell 2021) From the late 14th century it meant book learning, a particular branch of knowledge, and skill or cleverness.^(Etymonline) A craft or trade was a ''science'' from about 1400.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) Collective human knowledge gained by observation, experiment and reasoning is from the late 14th century.^(Etymonline) The modern restricted sense, a body of methodical observations about a subject, is by 1725,^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) and in the 17th and 18th centuries this was commonly called ''philosophy''.^(Etymonline) The distinction of science from art is from 1678.^(OED 1989) Trained skill, especially in boxing, is ''science'' from 1785,^(OED 1989) a use also found in Somerset dialect.^(Wright 1898) ''Science fiction'' is a 20th-century compound, and ''blind with science'' is from 1937.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1340 – knowledge, learning.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+ * late 14th century – a branch of knowledge.^(Etymonline)

+ * c. 1480 – a craft or trade.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1678 – contrasted with art.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1725 – the modern restricted sense.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1785 – trained skill, as in boxing.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1937 – ''blind with science''.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The observation, experimental investigation and theoretical explanation of natural phenomena.^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+ # A branch of such study: ''the natural sciences''.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+ # Systematic knowledge of any subject; a method of study applied to it.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # Knowledge, especially gained through experience; skill.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[antiscience]]

+ * [[interscience]]

+ * [[proscience]]

+ * [[scientism]]

+ * [[subscience]]

+ * [[nonscience]]

+ * [[omniscience]]

+ * [[pseudoscience]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[engineering]]

+ * [[technology]]

+ * [[scientist]]

+ * [[scientific]]

+ * [[conscience]]

+ * [[nice]]

+ * [[omniscient]]

+ * [[schism]]

+ * [[shed]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}