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Extending this question: "Criteria" versus "criterion"

What is the difference between "criterion" (singl, noun) and "criterium" (singl, noun) ?

Community
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Daniel W.
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    A dictionary would have been the single best way to answer this one yourself. – Rory Alsop May 31 '16 at 13:57
  • I think a dictionary could have answered this one. – Max Williams May 31 '16 at 13:57
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    I checked LEO and DICT and it is NOT helpful for me (I'm no native english speaker). One page says that "criterium" is used in context of bicycle racing but I don't fully get its meaning in that context. – Daniel W. May 31 '16 at 14:02
  • @DanFromGermany If the answers below aren't clear, the two words are unrelated in use and simply appear similar because they share a common root - "to judge". One (criterion) thus becomes the thing by which we make a judgement, while the other (criterium) is a type of cycling competition (and thus gets judged). – Prof Yaffle May 31 '16 at 14:17
  • I thought criterium was a special criterion of the bike race. Now it's clear :-) – Daniel W. May 31 '16 at 14:45
  • The question I linked which has some upvotes and is even protected could have been looked up in a dictionary, too. 98% of all stackexchange questions can be answer with "look in this book the answer is there". – Daniel W. May 31 '16 at 14:46
  • @DanFromGermany Maybe you're right. But the rules weren't strict back then. The linked question is at least 5 years old. Since the site is more popular now, we need to enforce certain rules to maintain quality. – NVZ May 31 '16 at 14:55
  • For us whose native language is not English, this is a great question. For example, plural: data and singular: datum (from Latin). How can I tell this does not mean plural: criteria and singular: criterium? Well, if I know some basic Latin, but my English is not quite strong enough, I cannot tell. Right? – Henke - Нава́льный П с м Apr 22 '22 at 06:11

2 Answers2

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Criterion is something used to help make a judgement or decision

Criterium is a bike race

Rory Alsop
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tl;dr: You in general want criterion, criteria, because criterium, criteriums is a very specialized term.

The normal word is criterion, criteria, which per Oxford Dictionaries Online means “a principle or standard by which something may be judged or decided.” The specialized U.S. term criterium, criteriums is again per Oxford “a one-day bicycle race on a circuit road course.”

The singular noun corresponding to the plural noun criteria is criterion. These are from the Greek, where you see -ion, -ia for singular and plural.

The term criterium comes to us from French. It's a kind of bicycle circuit race. Per Wiktionary it derives from:

From French critérium ‎(“competition”), from Late Latin criterium, from Ancient Greek κριτήριον ‎(kritḗrion).

With further explanation from Wikipedia:

A criterium, or crit, is a bike race consisting of several laps around a closed circuit, the length of each lap or circuit ranging from about 1 km to 2 km.

tchrist
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    I love your answers, but don't you think this question was "general reference"? :) – NVZ May 31 '16 at 14:00
  • @NVZ Don't worry: I blame Rory. :) ɴᴏᴛ – tchrist May 31 '16 at 14:11
  • lol - I did vote to close, and I probably should have just put mine as a comment. (actually - if any mod wants to convert it to a comment, that's fine) – Rory Alsop May 31 '16 at 15:24
  • Thank you for posting the only correct answer, which means based on etymological explanations, without which, language makes no sense. – Johan Boulé Jan 27 '21 at 15:22