Etymologically
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probation

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 22 October 2026 at 21:33. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˌpɹə(ʊ)ˈbeɪʃən/[1]
  • US: /ˌpɹoʊˈbeɪʃən/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English probacioun,[2][3] borrowed from Middle French probacion (modern probation), which meant proof, test and trial,[4][2] and its source Latin probātiō (“inspection, approval, test, proof”),[4][2][3] a noun of action formed on the past participle of probō (“to test, prove”), the verb behind prove.[4][2][5] Anglo-Norman had probacion for an examination and for the proving of a will from about 1360–79.[6] In Christian Latin the noun also meant a trial or testing, and in British sources a novitiate.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Testing, trial, investigation: c. 1422, in Thomas Hoccleve's Dialogus, a sense now obsolete.[4] Barnhart dates probacioun "a testing or proving" to about 1412, in Hoccleve's Regement of Princes, and Etymonline to the early 15th century.[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The testing of a person's character soon became the main sense: in theology the moral trial of a soul in this life (c. 1460), and in religious orders and societies the trial period of a candidate for membership (?a1475).[4] Etymonline notes that the early sense was especially trial by adversity.[2] In medieval surgery it meant examination with a probe (?a1425–1741), and later a school or university examination (1645–1895).[4] Johnson (1755) gave the senses proof or evidence, the act of proving, and trial or examination, quoting Shakespeare's "made probation" from Hamlet.[7] A general trial period for correcting earlier faults is recorded from 1616,[4] and in North America a period for a student to improve conduct or grades from 1883.[4] The penal sense grew in the 19th century: Australian convicts served under a probation system from 1840,[4] and the modern system of suspending an offender's sentence under supervision began in the United States, where the OED's first evidence is a Massachusetts act of 1878;[4][3] Etymonline dates the criminal-justice sense to 1866.[2] A verb probation, to put someone on probation, is recorded from 1900 in the OED,[4] while Etymonline gives a verb from the 1640s.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1412 – a testing, in Barnhart's dating.[3]
  • c. 1422 – testing, investigation (obsolete).[4]
  • ?a1425 – (surgery) examination with a probe (obsolete).[4]
  • c. 1460 – (theology) moral trial.[4]
  • ?a1475 – trial period of a candidate for membership.[4]
  • 1616 – a trial period for making good earlier faults.[4]
  • 1645 – a school or university examination (obsolete by 1895).[4]
  • 1840 – (Australia) the probation system for convicts.[4]
  • 1878 – (law, originally US) supervised suspension of a sentence.[4][3]
  • 1883 – (North America) academic probation.[4]
  • 1900 – the verb probation.[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. (law) A system of dealing with offenders by suspending their sentence or releasing them on condition of good behaviour under the supervision of a probation officer; the period of such supervision: He was given two years' probation.
  2. A trial period in which a new employee, member or candidate is tested for suitability.
  3. (North America) A period in which a student must improve conduct or academic results or face exclusion.
  4. (theology) Moral trial, especially life on earth regarded as a testing of the soul.
  5. (archaic) The act of testing or proving; proof.

Word family

  • probational
  • probationally
  • probationary
  • probationship
  • probationer
  • probation officer

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  6. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.