Where does “experiment” come from?
experiment (Middle Dutch) comes from Old French experiment, from Latin experimentum, from Latin experior, from Latin pariō, from Latin -iō, from Proto-West Germanic -jō, from Proto-Indo-European -yéti, from Proto-Indo-European yé- — he, she.
Ancestry of “experiment”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Old French | experiment | — |
| 2 | Latin | experimentum | test, trial, experiment; experience |
| 3 | Latin | experior | I attempt, I try; I test, I put to the test, I... |
| 4 | Latin | pariō | to bear, to give birth to |
| 5 | Latin | -iō | — |
| 6 | Proto-West Germanic | -jō | Forms agent nouns from verbs |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -yéti | Creates intransitive, often deponent,... |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | yé- | — |
| 9 | Chichewa | iye | he, she |