"the branch of surgery concerned with the replacement of missing or defective parts of the body," 1894, from prosthetic; also see -ics.
Entries linking to prosthetics
prosthetic adj.
1837, "exhibiting or pertaining to prosthesis in grammar;" 1902 in the surgical sense; from Latinized form of Greek prosthetikos "disposed to add," from prosthetos "added or fitted to," verbal adjective of prostithenai "to put to, add to" (see prosthesis). Related: Prosthetically.
-ics
in the names of sciences or disciplines (acoustics, aerobics, economics, etc.), a 16c. revival of the classical custom of using the neuter plural of adjectives with Greek -ikos "pertaining to" (see -ic) to mean "matters relevant to" and also as the titles of treatises about them. Subject matters that acquired their English names before c. 1500, however, tend to be singular in form (arithmetic, logic, magic, music, rhetoric). The grammatical number of words in -ics (mathematics is/mathematics are) is a confused question.