entity-relationship model
Synonyms
entity-relationship diagram
An approach to data modelling proposed by P. Chen in 1976. The model says that you divide your database in two logical parts, entities (e.g. "customer", "product") and relations ("buys", "pays for").
One of the first activities in specifying an application is defining the entities involved and their relationships, e.g. using an entity-relationship diagram to represent a model.
["The entity-relationship model: toward a unified view of data", P.P. Chen, ACM Transactions on Database Systems 1:1 pp 9-36, 1976].