Etymology Explorer › Middle English

Where does “proven” come from?

proven (Middle English) comes from Old French prover, from Latin probāre, from Latin probō, from Latin Probus, from Proto-Indo-European pro-bhwo-, from Proto-Indo-European pro-, from Proto-Indo-European por-, from Proto-Indo-European per- — passed , crossed.

Ancestry of “proven”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old Frenchproverto prove
2Latinprobāre—
3Latinprobō—
4LatinProbus—
5Proto-Indo-Europeanpro-bhwo-being in front, prominent
6Proto-Indo-Europeanpro-toward, forward
7Proto-Indo-Europeanpor-to give birth; forward, through; going, passage
8Proto-Indo-Europeanper-before, in front; first; to go through
9Proto-Indo-Europeanpr̥tóspassed , crossed

Words derived from “proven”

  • prove
  • proven
  • proving
  • unproven
  • prover
  • proveth
  • provability
  • provest
  • unprovability
  • nonproven
  • provenly
  • semiproven
  • overprove
  • counterprove
  • preve
  • unprovenly
  • pruvi
Every word from Proto-Indo-European pr̥tós →