method Look up method at Dictionary.com
1540s, from M.Fr. methode, from L. methodus "way of teaching or going," from Gk. methodus "scientific inquiry, method of inquiry," originally "pursuit, following after," from meta- "after" (see meta-) + hodos "a traveling, way" (see cede). In reference to a theory of acting associated with Rus. director Konstantin Stanislavsky, it is attested from 1923.