Meanings
- uncountablesystems engineeringThe science of risk analysis.First known use late 20th c.
Cindynics: The Science of Danger [article title]
1995, Georges-Yves Kervern, “Cindynics: The Science of Danger”, in Risk Management, volume 42, number 3, New York, N.Y.: Risk and Insurance Management Society, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 343 more examples
[W]e have continued in the four directions announced in 1994: […] The transfer of road safety concepts to other modes of transport and vice-versa (e.g., secondary safety applied to guided transport, the introduction of cindynics and anthropotechnics in road vehicles).
1996 October, Jean Pierre Medevielle, “France”, in The Fifteenth International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles: World Congress Centre, Melbourne, Australia, 13–16 May 1996, proceedings volume I, Washington, D.C.: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation, →OCLC, section 2 (Government Status Reports), page 35Researchers in cindynics (danger science) have also brought the notion of vulnerability closer to that of "space of danger"[…], which is defined as a set of organizational conditions that make a system prone to break-up and disasters.
2020 winter, Anne Gombault, “Notre Dame is Burning: Learning from the Crisis of a Superstar Religious Monument”, in François Colbert, editor, International Journal of Arts Management, volume 22, number 2 (Special Issue: Cultural Entrepreneurship), Montreal, Que.: Carmelle and Rémi Marcoux Chair in Arts Management, École des Hautes Études Commerciales de Montréal, Université de Montréal, in collaboration with the International Association for Arts and Cultural Management, →ISSN, →JSTOR, →OCLC, page 90, column 1The cindynics approach therefore primarily monitors the fragility of collective activity situations, that is, the emergence of dangerous zones […] within an organization, thus weakening its capacity for resilience.
2021, Guy Planchette, “Understanding Cindynics”, in Cindynics, the Science of Danger: A Wake-up Call (Mechanical Engineering and Solid Mechanics Series; 11), London: ISTE; Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 3
Origin
- Pre-Greek
- Ancient Greekκῐ́νδῡνος“danger, hazard, risk”
- Frenchcindyniques
- Englishcindynics
Borrowed from French cindyniques + English -ics (suffix forming nouns denoting fields of knowledge or practice). Cindyniques is a learned borrowing from Ancient Greek κῐ́νδῡνος (kĭ́ndūnos, “danger, hazard, risk”) (probably from Pre-Greek) + French -ique (suffix forming nouns denoting fields of knowledge or practice) + -s (suffix forming plurals), and was coined by the French engineer Georges-Yves Kervern (1935–2008) in 1987, and first published in the Le Monde newspaper on 10 December 1987.
More words from French, Ancient Greek, Pre-Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Finnish riskioppi
- riskioppiscience of risk analysis
French cindyniques
- cindyniquesscience of risk analysis
German Risikowissenschaft
- Risikowissenschaftscience of risk analysis
Cite this entry
cindynics. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cindynics
“cindynics.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cindynics. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cindynics,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cindynics.
Source: cindynics on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.