algorithm

ˈal-gə-ˌri-t͟həm

The name of a ninth-century mathematician passed through medieval Latin into a modern technical word.

Try algorithm in the lookup

Fills the word field on the homepage. Nothing is sent until you submit.

Wooden counting beads in a grid beside bronze dividers and geometric tiles. — Decorative illustration

One possible route

The sequence below follows the cited Merriam-Webster entry.

A word routeLanguage forms named in the cited Merriam-Webster entry

Arabic nameal-Khwārizmīthe mathematician's name
Medieval Latinalgorismusa Latinized form
Old French and Middle Englishalgorismethe earlier English form
Englishalgorithmfirst known use (Merriam-Webster, sense 1)1811

A name becomes a method

Merriam-Webster traces algorithm through Middle English algorisme and Medieval Latin algorismus to Arabic al-Khwārizmī — “the Khwarizmian,” the surname of the ninth-century mathematician whose work reached medieval Europe — and dates its sense 1 to 1811. The Online Etymology Dictionary dates English algorithm to the 1690s, in the sense “the Arabic system of computation,” borrowed from French algorithme — same English form, different scopes, so the dates are kept separate.

This page summarizes the cited dictionary entries. Follow each source for its full wording, notes and references.

More from the cited entries

Word-specific details from the linked dictionaries, with the dictionary named beside each claim.

A name mangled into a method

The Online Etymology Dictionary calls Medieval Latin algorismus “a mangled transliteration” of al-Khwarizmi, “native of Khwarazm” — modern Khiva in Uzbekistan. The American Heritage Dictionary names the man: Muhammad ibn-Musa al-Khwarizmi (780?–850?), a mathematician who later lived in Baghdad.

Middle English algorism, recorded from the early 13th century, meant computing with Arabic numerals. AHD's word history adds the twist: those numerals and methods were developed in India and reached Europe through Arabic treatises — so “Arabic numerals” already carry a displacement before al-Khwarizmi's name gets attached.

The mistaken -rithm

The th in algorithm is a documented remodeling, not an inheritance. Etymonline says French algorithme was “refashioned (under mistaken connection with Greek arithmos, ‘number’)” from Old French algorisme; the American Heritage Dictionary likewise calls algorithm a variant of algorism “probably under the influence of” arithmetic.

This is the folk-etymology pattern caught mid-word: a foreign name reshaped toward a familiar word. The Online Etymology Dictionary states the mistaken-connection explanation outright; the American Heritage Dictionary reports it as probable — the difference in confidence is part of the record.

From reckoning to programs

The word broadened from the numeral system to any method of computation, and from the mid-20th century especially to computing (Online Etymology Dictionary). AHD describes it being adopted in the 20th century for recursive procedures — the sense now dominant.

Two neighbours keep the name-link honest: algebra comes from the same mathematician's treatise title, al-mukhtasar fi hisab al-jabr wa al-muqabala (“the compendium on calculation by restoring and balancing”), where al-jabr is “reunion of broken parts”; and the programming language Algol (1959) contracts algo(rithmic) l(anguage) — while the star Algol, from Arabic al-ghul “the demon,” shares only the letters.

Keep following words

Continue with another source-linked example.

All ten examples