"branch of engineering which treats of the conveyance and motion of water," 1670s, from hydraulic; also see -ics.
Entries linking to hydraulics
hydraulic adj.
"pertaining to fluids in motion," c. 1600, from French hydraulique, from Latin hydraulicus, from Greek hydraulikos (organon) "water organ," the name of a musical instrument invented by the Egyptian Ctesibius, from hydr-, stem of hydor "water" (from suffixed form of PIE root *wed- (1) "water; wet") + aulos "musical instrument, hollow tube, pipe" (see alveolus). Extended by the Romans to other water engines.
-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.