bertillonage

Definition

An early form of biometric identification used on criminals by the French police, making use of distinguishing anthropometric measurements, such as head size, arm span and scars.

Etymology

Learned borrowing from French bertillonnage; from the name of the inventor, Alphonse Bertillon.

Example Sentences

• "Often these [clothing] labels are of more use than the so-called bertillonage, those eleven items of physical measurement and characteristics that must be recorded to make a positive identification but that are useless for anything else and find themselves at the bottom of desk drawers or in unused databases."