'Science' is Latin for 'knowledge' — from 'scire' (to know), from PIE *skey- (to cut). 'Scientist' came in 1833.
The systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation, experimentation, and the testing of theories.
From Proto-Indo-European *skei- ("to cut, to split, to separate"), through Latin scire ("to know"), scientia ("knowledge, understanding"), present participle sciens ("knowing"). The PIE root *skei- (to cut, separate) underlies Latin scindere ("to cut, split"), Greek skhizein ("to split" — root of schism), and the semantic leap to "knowing" comes through the idea of discerning — cutting apart ideas to distinguish them. Latin scientia was a broad term for any organized knowledge; it was the standard translation
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