theorycraft

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Hellenic *tʰā́wā

Ancient Greek θέᾱ (théā)

Proto-Indo-European *wer-der.

Proto-Indo-European *h₃ekʷ-der.

Proto-Indo-European *weyd-der.

Ancient Greek ὁράω (horáō)

Ancient Greek *θεᾱ-(ϝ)ορός, *θεη-(ϝ)ορός (*theā-(w)orós, *theē-(w)orós)

Ancient Greek θεωρός (theōrós)

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-i-eh₂

Proto-Hellenic *-íā

Ancient Greek -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā)

Ancient Greek θεωρία (theōría)bor.

Late Latin theōrialbor.

Middle French théoriebor.

English theory

Proto-Germanic *krafjaną

Proto-Indo-European *-tus

Proto-Germanic *-þuz

Proto-Germanic *kraftuz

Proto-West Germanic *kraftu

Old English cræft

Middle English craft

English craft

English theorycraft

From theory + craft.

Pronunciation

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Verb

theorycraft (third-person singular simple present theorycrafts, present participle theorycrafting, simple past and past participle theorycrafted)

1. (video games) To analyze (especially mathematically) the underlying mechanics of a video game in order to optimize or minimax one's gameplay.
   • 2014 July 15, Theck, “TC101: Intro to Theorycrafting”, in Sacred Duty‎^[1], archived from the original on 25 December 2025:

     Sometimes, the person asking only has a vague understanding of what it means to “theorycraft.” Most players already know that theorycrafting produces numbers that can be used to evaluate performance and ask questions, of course. But what most players don’t know is how those numbers are produced from beginning to end.

Derived terms

• theorycrafter

Noun

theorycraft (countable and uncountable, plural theorycrafts)

1. (video games) Theorycrafting.