explore

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ɪkˈsplɔː/, US /ɪkˈsplɔːr/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French explorer and directly borrowed from Latin explōrāre (“to search out, investigate”),^[2][3][4][5] possibly also a back-formation from exploration.^[2][6] The Latin is from ex- (“out”) and plōrāre (“to cry out, wail”) (see deplore),^[2][4][7] and was said to be a hunters' term, to raise a loud cry to drive game from cover;^[2][6][4] de Vaan, quoted by Etymonline, thinks this ancient explanation not unlikely.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

To investigate or seek to find out: 1585, in letters of Queen Elizabeth I.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

To look into closely or scrutinize is from 1592,^[8] and to examine a wound by touch, to probe it, from 1767.^[8] To search or travel through a country or place in quest of discoveries is in the poetry of Beaumont, before 1616,^[2][8] the 1610s in Etymonline.^[6] The intransitive sense, to go exploring, is from 1816,^[8] and to search for minerals from 1872.^[8] Explore every avenue, to investigate every possibility, is a later set phrase.^[9]

Timeline

• 1585 – to investigate, in Elizabeth I's letters.^[2][8]
• 1592 – to scrutinize.^[8]
• before 1616 – to travel through for discovery.^[2][8]
• 1767 – to probe a wound.^[8]
• 1816 – to go exploring.^[8]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To investigate or study systematically.
2. To travel into or through an unfamiliar place in order to learn about it.
3. (medicine) To examine an organ or part for diagnosis.

Word family

• explorable
• explorability
• exploringly
• explorer
• reexplore

Related words

• exploration
• explorative
• exploratory
• deplore
• implore

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 h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press