Anatomizer

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who dissects a body or examines something minutely ; a person who critically analyzes the details of a subject or argument
2. Someone who cuts apart an organism to study its structure ; a critic who breaks a work or idea down into its smallest parts
3. An individual who investigates anatomy by dissection ; a commentator who scrutinizes every element of a text or theory in close detail

Etymology: "Anatomizer" is a plain formation: the verb "anatomize" with the agent suffix "-er," giving a person or thing that anatomizes. The verb itself comes from "anatomize," which traces back through Latin "anatomia" and Greek "anatomē," meaning "a cutting up" or "dissection," from "ana-" (up, through) and "temnein" (to cut). The sense of cutting apart to examine the parts of a body, and then of examining anything closely by taking it to pieces, is what the agent noun inherits. The sense of the noun is therefore the one who dissects, or more loosely the one who analyses something minutely part by part. Because the suffix is productive, the form is transparent, and its meaning follows directly from the verb's.