branch of mechanics which treats of stresses and strains, 1650s, from Modern Latin statica (see static); also see -ics. Related: Statical; statically.
Entries linking to statics
static adj.
1630s, "pertaining to the science of weight and its mechanical effects," from Modern Latin statica, from Greek statikos "causing to stand, skilled in weighing," from stem of histanai "to make to stand, set; to place in the balance, weigh," from PIE root *sta- "to stand, make or be firm." Earlier statical (1560s). The sense of "having to do with bodies at rest or with forces that balance each other" is first recorded 1802. Applied to frictional electricity from 1839.
-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.