criminalist
UK[ˈkrɪmɪnəlɪst]US[ˈkrɪmɪnəlɪst]
n
a specialist in the scientific examination of physical evidence for use in a court of law; a forensic scientist.
n
a person who studies crime and criminals, especially from a sociological or psychological perspective.
Morpheme Breakdown
criminal
ist
criminal
pertaining to crime
ist
practitioner
Etymology
the word 'criminalist' is a modern formation built upon the well-established english adjective 'criminal,' which itself descends from the latin criminalis, pertaining to a charge or crime. the latin root crimen likely derives from the verb cernere, meaning 'to decide, to sift,' suggesting an original sense of a judicial decision or verdict. the suffix '-ist,' of greek origin via latin, is a productive agent-noun suffix in english, appended to indicate a specialist or expert in a particular field. therefore, a criminalist is literally 'one concerned with crime,' a meaning which has specialized in modern usage to primarily denote a practitioner of forensic science, the technical investigation of crime.
Analysis
Structure: criminal (pertaining to crime) + ist (practitioner)
criminal: from latin crimin-, stem of crimen (charge, accusation, crime), functioning as the base noun/adjective.
ist: from greek -istēs (agent suffix), via latin -ista, functioning as a noun-forming suffix denoting a person who practices or is concerned with something.
Examples
the criminalist carefully collected dna samples from the scene.
her work as a criminalist involves analyzing ballistic evidence.
the defense called upon an independent criminalist to review the forensic report.