Etymograph

English

audition

Audition comes from Latin audītiō ‘a listening, hearing’, from audiō ‘to hear’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew- ‘to see, perceive’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂ew-1‘to see, perceive’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂ewis1‘clearly, manifestly’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*awizdiō1‘to hear’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEaudiō2‘to hear’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEaudītiō2‘a listening, hearing’
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600audicion2
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1891audition2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin audio
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English audition
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles: “Abraham talked on, rather for the pleasure of utterance…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂ew-Wiktionary, Latin audio‘to see, perceive’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂ewisWiktionary, Latin audio‘clearly, manifestly’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*awizdiōWiktionary, Latin audio‘to hear’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEaudiōWiktionary, English audition‘to hear’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEaudītiōWiktionary, English audition‘a listening, hearing’
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600audicionWiktionary, English audition
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1891auditionWiktionary, English audition. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles: “Abraham talked on, rather for the pleasure of utterance…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew- ‘to see, perceive’

love, egg, ear, oval, acoustic, aviation, avid, anesthesia, ey, avian, aviator, auspicious, ovation, aural, avarice, aviary, ocarina, otolaryngology, 66 more

through Latin audiō ‘to hear’

audience, obey, audible, 11 more

Today it means

noun A performance, by an aspiring performer, to demonstrate suitability or talent.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “audition”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin audio. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew- / audition

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