Specification

Specification

Noun · /ˌspesɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/ · the act of stating something precisely; a detailed description of requirements

Definition

A specification is a precise, detailed description of requirements, measurements, materials, or standards that something must conform to. It answers the question: exactly what must this be, do, or contain? In engineering, a specification is the blueprint in words — listing dimensions, materials, tolerances, and performance thresholds. In software, a specification defines how a system should behave. In law and commerce, it sets out the terms that bind a contract. The word is equally at home in a factory, a courtroom, a software team, or a kitchen recipe.

Origin

Specification entered English in the mid-seventeenth century from Medieval Latin specificatio, from specificare — to specify — itself from Latin species (kind, sort) and facere (to make or do). The root species carried the sense of a distinct kind or variety, so to specify originally meant to identify the exact kind. By the eighteenth century, specification had acquired its technical sense of a formal written statement of requirements — a sense that only grew stronger as industry, law, and engineering became more systematised.