Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “experience” come from?

Experience comes from Middle English experience, from Latin experientia meaning trial or experiment, derived from Latin experior meaning to try, formed from the Latin prefix ex- combined with a root from Proto-Indo-European per- meaning to attempt or risk.

experience (English): The effect upon the judgment or feelings produced...

Definitions

  1. The effect upon the judgment or feelings produced...

Ancestry of “experience”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishexperience—
2Latinexperientiaa trial, proof, experiment; experimental...
3Latinexperienstesting, trying, experiencing
4LatinexperiorI attempt, I try; I test, I put to the test, I...
5Latinpariō—
6Latin-iō—
7Proto-West Germanic-jōForms agent nouns from verbs
8Proto-Indo-European-yétiCreates intransitive, often deponent,...
9Proto-Indo-Europeanyé-—
10Chichewaiyehe, she

Words derived from “experience”

  • experienced
  • experiencing
  • inexperienced
  • experiential
  • experientially
  • experiencer
  • unexperienced
  • reexperience
  • experienceable
  • experientialism
  • experientialist
  • nonexperiential
  • experientiality
  • panexperientialism
  • nonexperienced
  • nonexperience
  • experienceless
  • unexperienceable
  • postexperience
  • nonexperiencing
  • underexperienced
  • panexperientialist
  • postexperiential
  • interexperience
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