Etymologically
Log in

trial

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 18:31. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

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

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