Informatic

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Relating to the science of collecting, storing, retrieving and processing information, especially using computers
2. Describing the field that studies how data is organized, managed and put to use through computing systems
3. Concerning the handling of information by technological means, such as the systems used to store and analyze data

Etymology: Informatic is an adjective meaning of or relating to computer data, and it grows out of the same root as "informatics," the study of information processing. That root is the Latin "informare," meaning to give form to, shape or instruct, from "in-" plus "forma," form. The idea behind it is that information is something that shapes the mind or gives structure to what would otherwise be formless. The "-ic" ending is an ordinary adjective-forming suffix, attached here to the noun "informatics." The result is a word that names the data side of computing without requiring the longer phrase "relating to information processing by machines." Because the word is built directly from its noun partner, its history is essentially the history of "informatics" itself, and the sense of shaping or giving form survives in the way computer data is understood as organized, structured material rather than raw signals.