English
experience
Experience comes from Latin experientia ‘a trial, proof, experiment, experimental…’, and goes back to experiri ‘to try, put to the test, undertake, undergo’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexperiri1‘to try’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexperiens1‘testing’present participle of experiri
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexperientia1‘a trial’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500experience1
- Englishearliest quotation 1596experience1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English experience
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1596, Edmund Spenser, Book V, Canto I: “She caused him to make experience / Vpon wyld…”.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexpeririWiktionary, English experience‘to try’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexperiensWiktionary, English experience‘testing’present participle of experiri
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexperientiaWiktionary, English experience‘a trial’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500experienceWiktionary, English experience
- Englishearliest quotation 1596experienceWiktionary, English experience. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1596, Edmund Spenser, Book V, Canto I: “She caused him to make experience / Vpon wyld…”
A compound of ex ‘out’ + peritus ‘experienced, expert’
Proto-Indo-European *h₁eǵʰs ‘out’
Proto-Italic *eks
Latin ex ‘out’
Proto-Indo-European *perh₃- ‘to provide, produce, beget’
Proto-Italic *parjō ‘to bear, give birth’
Latin pariō ‘to bear, to give birth to’
Latin experior ‘try, test, experience’
Latin peritus ‘experienced, expert’
Every English word from Latin experiri
Today it means
noun The effect upon the judgment or feelings produced by any event, whether witnessed or participated in; personal and direct impressions as contrasted with description or fancies; personal acquaintance; actual enjoyment or suffering.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “experience”. 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 experiri / experience