# mental model

> English word · Noun

## Definitions
1. Someone's understanding of how a system works.

## Etymology
Introduced by Scottish philosopher Kenneth Craik in The Nature of Explanation (1943).

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/mental-model