acoustics

English

Alternative forms

• acousticks (obsolete)

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ-

Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew-

Proto-Indo-European *-s

Proto-Indo-European *h₂ṓws

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *h₂ḱh₂owsyéti

Proto-Hellenic *akóuhō

Ancient Greek ἀκούω (akoúō)

Proto-Indo-European *-kos

Proto-Hellenic *-kos

Ancient Greek -κός (-kós)

Ancient Greek -ῐκός (-ĭkós)

Ancient Greek ᾰ̓κουστῐκός (ăkoustĭkós)bor.

Medieval Latin acousticusbor.

English acoustic

Old English -as

Middle English -es

English -s

English acoustics

From acoustic + -s.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈkuː.stɪks/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

acoustics (uncountable) See -ics regarding the treatment of such nouns as singular.

2. (physics) The science of sounds, teaching their nature, phenomena and laws.
   • 1831, John Herschel, Preliminary Discourse on the Study of Natural Philosophy, London: Printed for Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, & Green: Paternoster Row, and John Taylor, Upper Gower Street, page 248:

     "Acoustics, then, or the science of sound, is a very consderable branch of physics, and one which has been cultivated from the earliest ages.

3. The properties of a space that affect how sound carries.

   The acoustics in the opera house gave the whole concert a spooky sound.

Usage notes

• The science was previously divided by some writers into diacoustics, which explains the properties of sounds coming directly from (sic! Webster) the ear; and catacoustics, which treats of reflected sounds or echoes. This division is now obsolete.

Derived terms

• aeroacoustics
• archaeoacoustics
• bioacoustics
• ecoacoustics
• electroacoustics
• hydroacoustics
• ionoacoustics
• magnetoacoustics
• microacoustics
• noraconitine
• otoacoustics
• photoacoustics
• phytoacoustics
• polyacoustics
• psychoacoustics
• quantum acoustics
• radioacoustics
• thermoacoustics

Related terms

• acoustic

Translations

the science of sounds, teaching their nature, phenomena and laws

• Bulgarian: акустика (bg) (akustika)
• Catalan: acústica f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 声学 (zh) (shēngxué)

• Czech: akustika (cs) f
• Dutch: akoestiek (nl) f
• Esperanto: akustiko
• Finnish: akustiikka (fi)
• French: acoustique (fr) f
• Galician: acústica (gl) f
• Georgian: აკუსტიკა (aḳusṭiḳa)
• German: Akustik (de) f
• Greek: ακουστική (el) f (akoustikí)
• Hungarian: akusztika (hu), (easier to understand but ambiguous with phonetics) hangtan (hu)
• Ido: akustiko (io)
• Indonesian: akustika (id)
• Irish: fuaimeolaíocht f, acústaic f
• Italian: acustica (it)
• Japanese: 音響学 (ja) (onkyōgaku)
• Latvian: akustika f
• Malay: akustik (ms), kaji bunyi
• Māori: mātai oro
• Polish: akustyka (pl) f
• Portuguese: acústica (pt) f
• Russian: аку́стика (ru) f (akústika)
• Scottish Gaelic: fuaimearrachd f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: аку̀стика f

  Latin: akùstika (sh) f

• Spanish: acústica (es) f
• Swedish: akustik (sv) c
• Tagalog: tunugan
• Tamil: ஒலியியல் (ta) (oliyiyal)
• Thai: สวนศาสตร์ (th) (sà-wá-ná-sàat)
• Vietnamese: âm học

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} acustica
• Slovene: ^{(please verify)} akustika (sl) f

Noun

acoustics

1. plural of acoustic

References

• “acoustics”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “acoustics”, in Merriam-Webster.com Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Further reading

• acoustics on Wikipedia.Wikipedia