Anthropometry
/ˌænθrəˈpɒmɪtri/noun
The systematic measurement of the human body's size, proportions and composition.
The Greek roots
Literally: “measuring of the human being”
The story of the word
Nineteenth-century statisticians built the word to name what Quetelet was doing with chest circumferences and heights. Alphonse Bertillon then turned it into police work in the 1880s: eleven measurements of a suspect's skull, ears and limbs, filed on cards, until fingerprints made the cards obsolete. The word survived its worst users and now belongs to sports science, ergonomics and clothing design.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 19th century
Same family
In a sentence
The club runs full anthropometry on every new signing, from limb length to skinfold thickness.
Cockpit design begins with anthropometry, because the seat has to fit both the fifth and the ninety-fifth percentile pilot.