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I've been tasked with creating some custom website tracking for a CMS, similar to Google Analytics. I was going to title this area on the back-end as Analytics but I got a spell-check red squiggle and that sent me to a Google search which resulted in me finding out analytics isn't a real word.

So is there a noun form of analytic or am I just being stupid?

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"Google Analytics" is a brand name, maybe based a longer phrase ("Google Analytic Tools"?) which they wanted to shorten for marketing purposes. It sounds like the coinage of "electronics" for "electronic devices or components". – JeffSahol Aug 19 '11 at 20:45

2 Answers

up vote 4 down vote accepted

It absolutely is a word.

From Merriam-Webster:

an·a·lyt·ics
noun pl but singular or pl in constr \ˌa-nə-ˈli-tiks\
: the method of logical analysis
First Known Use of ANALYTICS
circa 1590

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Weird, I couldn't find it anywhere. Not in the OALD nor the NOAD. – Alenanno Aug 19 '11 at 21:28
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Traditionally, the noun form is analysis. The -sis ending in Greek is a noun form that gets changed into -ikos when it is made into an adjective, from which we get out -ic ending for lots of our adjectives. The word analytics was perhaps coined a very long time ago, but it has only recently been gaining currency, I think.

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