Etymology

pseudoscience

pseu·do·sci·ence
P3S1E1U1D2O1S1C3I1E1N1C3E1

Today it means: Any body of knowledge that purports to be scientific or to be supported by science (or may appear to be scientific) but which fails to comply with the scientific method (or rather, is not true science). Full definition →

First used 1796English science ← Middle English science ← Old French science
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Ancient Greekψεύδω (pseúdō)
  2. Ancient Greekψευδής (pseudḗs)
  3. Middle Englishpseudo-
  4. Englishpseudo-
  5. Proto-Indo-European*sek-?
  6. Proto-Indo-European*skey-
  7. Latinsciō
  8. Latinsciēns
  9. Latinscientia
  10. Old Frenchscience
  11. Middle Englishscience
  12. Englishscience
  13. English todaypseudoscience

From pseudo- + science, first attested in 1796, in reference to alchemy.

First known use, by meaning

  • from 1796 Any body of knowledge that purports to be scientific or to be supported by science (or may appear to be scientific) but which fails to comply with the scientific method (or rather, is not true science).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.