Etymologically
Log in

experiment

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 03:03. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: noun /ɪkˈsper.ɪ.mənt/, /ekˈsper.ɪ.mənt/, verb /ɪkˈsper.ɪ.ment/, /ekˈsper.ɪ.ment/[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English experiment, borrowed from Old French experiment and directly from Latin experīmentum (“a trial, test, proof”),[2][3][4] from experīrī (“to try, test”),[2][3][5] from ex- “out of” and perītus “experienced, tested”,[2] from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to try, risk”).[2] It is related to experience and expert.[3][5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A proof or piece of evidence: 1348 in Barnhart, the mid-14th century in Etymonline.[3][2] A test or trial is from before 1350,[3] and in science from 1362 in the OED.[7]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English it could also be a feat of magic or sorcery, following Old French esperment “enchantment”.[2] Practical acquaintance or experience is from 1560 and obsolete.[7] A tentative course of action is from 1594.[7] The process of conducting experiments is from 1678.[7] The verb, to find out by trial, is from 1484, in Caxton's Aesop,[3] and the intransitive sense, to make experiments, from 1787.[3][2] Experimental is from about 1449 and experimentation from 1675.[3]

Timeline

  • 1348 – a proof.[3]
  • 1362 – a scientific test.[7]
  • 1484 – the verb.[3]
  • 1594 – a tentative course of action.[7]
  • 1787 – to make experiments.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A scientific test carried out to find something out or to test an idea.
  2. A new idea or method that is being tried to see what happens.
  3. The process of trying out new things; experimentation.

Verb

  1. To carry out experiments.
  2. To try new ideas or methods.

Word family

  • experimenter
  • experimentation
  • preexperiment
  • experimental
  • unexperimented

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press