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specimen

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Etymology and origin of the English word specimen

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1604
Borrowed from
Latin specimen
Ultimate origin
Latin speciō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin specio
Latin specimen
English specimen
From the same root
Latin conspectus ← specio
Latin introspicio ← specio
Latin species ← specio
Latin spectus ← specio
Latin suspicio ← specio

Pronunciation

  • /ˈspɛsɪmɪn/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin specimen (“mark, sign, evidence, example, pattern; outward appearance”),[2][3][4][5] from speciō (“to look at”) and the noun suffix -men, which denotes a result or means.[2][5][6] The Latin verb comes from Proto-Indo-European *spek- (“to observe”),[3][7] and species is from the same verb.[8][3] The OED notes that the English word was in turn borrowed widely in Europe: French spécimen is recorded from 1662, Spanish espécimen from 1683 and Italian specimen from before 1755.[2] The Latin plural was also fairly common in English in the later 17th century.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

An example or instance from which the character of the whole can be judged: 1604, in Bishop W. Barlow's account of the conference at Hampton Court.[2] Other dictionaries date the word later: Etymonline and Merriam-Webster to 1610, in the sense "pattern, model" or "means of finding out",[3][9] and Barnhart to 1619.[4]

Semantic evolution

In the 17th century the word had several senses now obsolete: a means of finding out, an experiment (1610–1800), a pattern or model (1632–97) and a rough draft or outline (1664–1881).[2][4] The sense that prevailed, a single thing regarded as typical of its class, appears in 1648,[2] by the 1650s according to Etymonline and Barnhart.[3][4] From 1665 it was used of an animal, plant or mineral kept for scientific study,[2] and in 1742 in medicine of a sample of urine, blood or tissue.[2] Applied to people, it meant first a typical example of a human quality (1678), and then a person of a certain sort (1746), often with a disparaging adjective, a queer specimen, from 1839.[2][10] Charles Lamb complained in 1808 that books of Specimens of poets and prose writers had become fashionable, replacing the older Beauties.[3] In Australia and New Zealand a specimen was a piece of quartz with visible gold (1849).[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as a sample, a part of anything shown so that the rest may be known.[11]

Timeline

  • 1604 – an example from which the whole can be judged.[2]
  • 1610 – a means of finding out, an experiment (obsolete).[2][4]
  • 1632 – a pattern or model (obsolete).[2]
  • 1648 – a single thing typical of its class.[2]
  • 1665 – a plant, animal or mineral kept for study.[2]
  • 1742 – medicine, a sample of urine, blood or tissue.[2]
  • 1746 – with an adjective, a person of a certain kind.[2]
  • 1849 – Australia and New Zealand, quartz showing gold.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A single thing or part regarded as typical of its group or class; an example or sample.
  2. (medicine) A sample of tissue, blood, urine or the like taken for testing or diagnosis.
  3. A plant, animal, rock or part of one kept for scientific study or display: The museum keeps thousands of beetle specimens.
  4. (informal) A person of a particular kind, often said disparagingly: He's an odd specimen.

Adjective

  1. Serving as a sample: a specimen page.

Word family

  • type specimen

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  9. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  10. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Specimen.” Etymologically, 24 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/specimen. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.

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