Etymograph

English

examinator

Examinator comes from Latin exāminō ‘to examine’, and goes back to agō ‘to drive’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEagō1‘to drive’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexāmen2‘a consideration, an examining’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexāminō3as examinator‘to examine’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1650examinator3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin examen
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin examino
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English examinator
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […]: “perswade a serious examinator”.

Earlier history not traced here. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEagōWiktionary, Latin examen‘to drive’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexāmenWiktionary, Latin examino‘a consideration, an examining’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexāminōWiktionary, English examinatoras examinator‘to examine’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1650examinatorWiktionary, English examinator. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […]: “perswade a serious examinator”

Linked words

through Latin agō ‘to drive’

act, action, active, agency, activity, actual, agent, agenda, actor, activate, ambiguous, agile, agility, squat, assay, enact, ambiguity, agitation, radium, cogent, actuator, actuation, exigent, redact, actuate, inexact, 97 more

Today it means

noun An examiner.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “examinator”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin examen, Latin examino. 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 / Latin agō / examinator

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