experimentexperiment

Experiment comes from Middle English experiment, from Old French esperiment, from Latin experimentum, from experior ‘to try’, ultimately PIE *per-.

1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*per-¹‘to go through’reconstructed
2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CE*perior¹reconstructed
3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexperior²‘to try, experience’
4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexperimentum³‘experience, test’
5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400esperiment¹‘experience’
6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500experiment¹
7. Englishearliest quotation 1481experiment¹

1. ¹ Wiktionary, English experiment
2. ² Wiktionary, Latin experimentum
3. ³ Wiktionary, Old French esperiment
4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1481, The Mirrour of the World, William Caxton: “Til they had experimented whiche was trewe, and who…”.