statistic [L18th] This is from the German adjective statistisch, and the noun Statistik. This German noun was used by a German writer called Aschenwall in 1748 as a name for the area of knowledge dealing with the constitutions and resources of the various states of the world. French writers of the 18th century refer to Aschenwall as having introduced the word, which then gave rise to French statistique. In English the word was first found in the phrase statistic science (a collection of numerical facts to do with economic conditions) in the late 18th century.