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probe

Etymology and origin of the English word probe

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
before 1425
Ultimate origin
Medieval Latin (proba)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /prəʊb/, US /proʊb/[1]

Etymology

It is from Medieval Latin proba (“examination”), in Late Latin a test or proof,[2][3][4] from Latin probāre, to test, prove (see prove).[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A slender instrument for exploring wounds and body cavities, also a medical examination: probably before 1425, in a translation of Guy de Chauliac's surgery;[2][3] 1580 in the OED.[5]

Semantic evolution

The verb is from 1649, in Lovelace's Poems, at first figurative: to search into, investigate;[2][3] the physical sense, to examine with a probe, is from the 1680s.[3] The NODE dates the verb from the mid-17th century.[6] The noun as an act of probing is from 1890,[2] and a penetrating investigation, as by a newspaper, from 1903.[3] A small electrode or sensor placed in something is from 1924,[5] and an unmanned exploratory spacecraft from 1953.[3][5]

Timeline

  • before 1425 – a surgical instrument.[2]
  • 1649 – to probe, investigate.[2]
  • 1680s – to examine with a probe.[3]
  • 1903 – an investigation.[3]
  • 1953 – a space probe.[3][5]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A slender, blunt surgical instrument for exploring a wound or body cavity.
  2. A device or spacecraft sent to explore and gather information, as about a distant planet.
  3. A thorough investigation, as into wrongdoing.

Verb

  1. To explore with a probe.
  2. To question or look into closely; to investigate.

Word family

  • prober
  • probingly
  • probeable
  • cryoprobe
  • microprobe
  • reprobe
  • unprobed
  • space probe

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
Cite this entry

“Probe.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/probe. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·