econometrics

noun

econo·​met·​rics i-ˌkä-nə-ˈme-triks How to pronounce econometrics (audio)
ē-ˌkä-
plural in form but singular in construction
: the application of statistical methods to the study of economic data and problems
econometric
i-ˌkä-nə-ˈme-trik How to pronounce econometrics (audio)
ē-ˌkä-
adjective
econometrically
i-ˌkä-nə-ˈme-tri-k(ə-)lē How to pronounce econometrics (audio)
ē-ˌkä-
adverb
econometrician
i-ˌkä-nə-mə-ˈtri-shən How to pronounce econometrics (audio)
ē-ˌkä-
noun
econometrist
i-ˌkä-nə-ˈme-trist How to pronounce econometrics (audio)
ē-ˌkä-
noun

Word History

Etymology

blend of economics and -metrics, a re-formation of earlier econometry, after French économétrie

Note: The term econometrics is closely associated with the founding of the Econometric Society in December, 1929, by the Norwegian economist Ragnar Frisch and others, and with the journal Econometrica, which began publication in 1933. The words econometric, econometrics, etc., are all dependent on French économétrie, which was introduced by Ragnar Frisch in the paper "Sur un problème d'économie pure," Norsk Matematisk Forenings skrifter, series I, no. 16 (1926), pp. 1-40. The French word was translated into English as econometry in a review of the paper published in 1927 (Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, vol. 90, no. 1, pp. 146-47). Curiously, the word econometry appeared earlier, apparently in a nonce usage, in A.R. Crathorne, "The Course in Statistics in the Mathematics Department," American Mathematical Monthly, vol. 33, no. 4, April, 1926, p. 186 ("Biologists and anthropologists have long recognized the principle implied here and have invented the words biometry and anthropometry. We might ask the economists to introduce the word econometry, but it would be very difficult to argue them out of their rather well grounded historical claim to some share in the word statistics."). Still earlier, the German word Oekonometrie was apparently coined—though with a much more restricted sense—by the Polish banker and economist Paweł Ciompa (Grundrisse einer Oekonometrie und die auf der Nationalökonomie aufgebaute natürliche Theorie der Buchhaltung, Lemberg [Lwów/L'viv], 1910), though Ragnar Frisch was not aware of Ciompa's word (see Frisch, "Note on the Term 'Econometrics'," Econometrica, vol. 4, issue 1 [January, 1936], p. 95). As a product of word formation, econometrics/econometry (and their French and German predecessors) can be regarded as either a blend (as indicated above) or as a truncation of economy, with the second -o- unetymologically taken as the combining vowel.

First Known Use

1931, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of econometrics was in 1931

Rhymes for econometrics

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Browse Nearby Words

econobox
econometrics
economic
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Cite this Entry

“Econometrics.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/econometrics. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.

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