Etymograph

English

Pfaffian

From Pfaff + -ian, after Johann Friedrich Pfaff.

Formed from Pfaff + -ian

Middle High German pfaffe ‘cleric’

German Pfaff

English Pfaff

Today it means

noun The determinant of a skew-symmetric matrix, capable of being written as the square of a polynomial in the matrix entries.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Pfaffian