Where does the word "critique" come from, and why does that origin contradict everyday use of the word?

It comes from the ancient Greek verb "krínein" (to separate, judge, decide) — so "critique" originally means the art of judging and distinguishing well, not the act of badmouthing something.

In everyday speech "to criticise" carries a negative charge: to find fault, to complain. Budelacci argues that this is a corruption of the term. The Greek krínein means to sift — to separate the true from the false, the important from the unimportant, the worthwhile from the worthless. So critical thinking is not a sour disposition that rejects things; it is a disciplined skill of good judgement: deciding whether a statement is true or false, relevant or trivial, worth pursuing or worth avoiding.

Tip: The same root sits inside "criterion" and "to discern" — all about distinguishing, not disparaging. If your "critique" only tears down and never sorts true from false, it isn't critique in this sense.