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crit·ic

(krĭtĭk)

1. A person who forms and expresses judgments of the merits, faults, value, or truth of a matter.

2. A person who analyzes, evaluates, and reports on creative works, especially as a profession: a film critic; a food critic.

3. A person who tends to make harsh or carping judgments; a faultfinder.

[Latin criticus, from Greek kritikos, able to discern, from kritēs, judge, from krīnein, to separate, judge; see krei- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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