Etymology

empiricism

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Today it means: A doctrine which holds that the only or, at least, the most reliable source of human knowledge is experience, especially perception by means of the physical senses. (Often contrasted with rationalism.) Full definition →

First used 18th c.English empiric ← Latin empīricu ← Ancient Greek ἐμπειρῐκός (empeirĭkós)
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₁én
  2. Ancient Greekἐν (en)
  3. Ancient Greekἐν- (en-)
  4. Proto-Indo-European*per-
  5. Proto-Indo-European*périh₂
  6. Proto-Hellenic*péřřa
  7. Ancient Greekπεῖρα (peîra)
  8. Ancient Greekἔμπειρος (émpeiros)
  9. Ancient Greekἐμπειρία (empeiría)
  10. Ancient Greekἐμπειρῐκός (empeirĭkós)
  11. Latinempīricu
  12. Englishempiric
  13. English todayempiricism

From empiric + -ism.

First known use, by meaning

  • from 18th c. A doctrine which holds that the only or, at least, the most reliable source of human knowledge is experience, especially perception by means of the physical senses. (Often contrasted with rationalism.)
  • from 19th c. A pursuit of knowledge purely through experience, especially by means of observation and sometimes by experimentation.
  • from 17th c. Medicine as practised by an empiric, founded on mere (personal or anecdotal) experience, without the aid of science or a knowledge of principles.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.