"science of the measurement and dimensions of the parts of the human body," 1839, from anthropo- + -metry "a measuring of." Perhaps modeled on French anthropometrie (by 1806).
Entries linking to anthropometry
anthropo-
before a vowel, anthrop-, word-forming element meaning "pertaining to man or human beings," from Greek anthrōpos "man; human being" (including women), as opposed to the gods, from andra (genitive andros), Attic form of Greek anēr "man" (as opposed to a woman, a god, or a boy), from PIE root *ner- (2) "man," also "vigorous, vital, strong."
Anthropos sometimes is explained as a compound of anēr and ōps (genitive ōpos) "eye, face;" so literally "he who has the face of a man." The change of -d- to -th- is difficult to explain; perhaps it is from some lost dialectal variant, or the mistaken belief that there was an aspiration sign over the vowel in the second element (as though *-dhropo-), which mistake might have come about by influence of common verbs such as horao "to see." But Beekes writes, "As no IE explanation has been found, the word is probably of substrate origin."
-metry
word-forming element meaning "process of measuring," Middle English -metrie, from French -metrie, from Latin -metria, from Greek -metria "a measuring of," from -metros "measurer of," from metron "measure," from PIE root *me- (2) "to measure."
anthropometric adj.
"pertaining to the measurements of the human body," 1871, based on French anthropométrique, from anthropometry "measurement of the human body" + -ic.