Science & TechnologyGreek → English
Hydrodynamics
/ˌhaɪdroʊdaɪˈnæmɪks/noun
The study of liquids in motion and the forces they produce.
The Greek roots
ὕδωρ
hýdōr
water
δύναμις
dýnamis
power, force
Literally: “water force”
The story of the word
Daniel Bernoulli invented the word as a book title, Hydrodynamica, published in 1738, welding ὕδωρ to δύναμις for a subject that barely existed yet. His central claim was that pressure in a moving fluid falls as the fluid speeds up, which is why a shower curtain leans inward and why a wing lifts. English took the word later in the same century and has argued with hydraulics over the boundary ever since.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Modern Latin → English
- First recorded
- 18th century
Same family
hydranthydrogendehydratedynamic
In a sentence
Ship hull design is an exercise in hydrodynamics and compromise.
The hydrodynamics of blood flow changes completely once a vessel narrows.