trial

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈtraɪ.əl/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Anglo-Norman trial, triel,^[2][3][4] a noun formed from Old French trier “to try, pick out, cull”,^[5][2] the source of try, from Gallo-Roman *triāre, of unknown origin,^[5] with the suffix -al.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The act or process of testing: 1436 in Barnhart.^[2] Etymonline has an examination before a court, and a trial by arms, from the mid-15th century,^[5] while the OED's first example of the legal sense is from before 1577.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

The general sense “a putting to proof by experiment” is by the late 15th century,^[5] 1526 in the OED.^[6] The state of being tried by suffering or temptation, an affliction, is from the 1540s,^[5][6] and in Shakespeare's King John (1595) a trial is an ordeal.^[2] Trial and error is from 1806,^[2][5] and trial balloon (1826) translates French ballon d'essai, a small balloon sent up to test the winds, though it was first used figuratively in English.^[5] Trial by television is from 1960,^[6] and a motorcycle trial, testing riders' skill, from 1926.^[6] The verb, “to test a new product”, is from the late 20th century.^[7]

Timeline

• 1436 – a test.^[2]
• mid-15th century – a judicial examination.^[5]
• 1540s – an affliction.^[5]
• 1595 – an ordeal.^[2]
• 1806 – trial and error.^[2][5]
• 1826 – trial balloon.^[5]
• 1926 – a motorcycle trial.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The examination of evidence in a court of law to decide a case, especially the guilt of an accused person.
2. A test of the quality or performance of something; an experiment: clinical trials.
3. A trying experience; an affliction or source of annoyance: trials and tribulations.
4. A competition testing skill, as of riders or dogs.

Adjective

1. Done or used as a test: a trial run.

Verb

1. To test a new product or method.

Word family

• posttrial
• intertrial
• mistrial
• nontrial
• pretrial
• retrial
• clinical trial
• field trial

Related words

• try

Usage notes

A separate adjective trial, in grammar denoting three persons or things, as dual denotes two, is from 1886, from tri- and -al.^[6][7]

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 i j 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. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press