'Critic' is Greek for 'able to judge' — from 'krinein' (to sift). A sifter of quality.
A person who expresses judgement on the merits and faults of something, especially works of art or literature; a person who disapproves of something.
From Latin 'criticus' (a judge of literature, a literary critic), borrowed from Greek 'kritikós' (κριτικός, able to judge, skilled at discerning, decisive), derived from 'krinein' (κρίνειν, to separate, to sift, to decide, to judge). The Proto-Indo-European root is *krey- (to sieve, to separate, to distinguish). This root produced Latin 'cernere' (to sift, to perceive, to decide — whence 'discern,' 'concern,' 'secret,' and 'crime'), Latin 'certus' (sifted, decided, certain), Greek 'krinein' (to separate), Greek 'krisis' (κρίσις, a turning point, a decision — the moment when the body either throws off illness or succumbs), and 'criterion' (a standard for judging). A critic is etymologically a 'sifter' — one
The words 'critic,' 'crisis,' and 'criterion' all come from the same Greek verb 'krinein' (to judge). A 'crisis' is a moment of judgement — a turning point where a decision must be made. A 'criterion' is a standard by which judgement is made. And 'hypocrisy' comes from 'hypokrinesthai' (to play a part, to pretend to judge) — literally 'to judge from underneath,' meaning to act a role on stage, then extended to pretending in everyday life.