Etymology

The word "economy" can be traced back to the Greek word oikonomos, "one who manages a household", derived from oikos, "house", and nemein, "to manage." From oikonomos was derived oikonom, which had not only the sense "management of a household or family" but also senses such as "thrift", "direction", "administration", "arrangement", and "public revenue of a state". The first recorded sense of the word "economy", found in a work possibly composed in 1440, is "the management of economic affairs", in this case, of a monastery. Economy is later recorded in other senses shared by oikonomi in Greek, including "thrift" and "administration". What is probably the most frequently used current sense, "the economic system of a country or an area", seems not to have developed until the 19th or 20th century.