The term "t-test" is a modern statistical compound. The "t" refers to Student's t-distribution, a probability distribution introduced in 1908 by William Sealy Gosset. Gosset's employer, the Guinness brewery, prohibited employees from publishing, so he used the pen name "Student," leading to the distribution's name. The word "test" has a longer history, originating from Latin testum (an earthen pot), which was used in assaying metals, thus evolving to mean any critical examination or trial. Combined, "t-test" literally means "the test based on the t-statistic," a specific procedure for comparing group means within the framework of Student's distribution.

Structure: t (statistic) + test (procedure) t (English, named after the t-distribution developed by William Sealy Gosset, who published under the pseudonym "Student"); test (Latin, from testum meaning "earthen pot," later "trial," functioning here as a noun meaning a procedure for establishing quality or performance).