English
trial
Trial comes from Middle English trial, from Anglo-Norman trial (Old French triel), from trier ‘to pick out’ + -al.
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400trier1‘to pick out, cull’
- Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400trial1
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500trial1
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1597trial1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English trial
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1597, William Shakespeare, Henry IV: “In both your armies there is many a soul…”.
Lineage
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400trierWiktionary, English trial‘to pick out, cull’
- Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400trialWiktionary, English trial
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500trialWiktionary, English trial
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1597trialWiktionary, English trial. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1597, William Shakespeare, Henry IV: “In both your armies there is many a soul…”
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with trial, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Latin trītus ‘rubbed, triturated’
2 more relatives in the full family tree
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Another origin of trial
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tri-‘three, threefold’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*tri-‘three, tri-’reconstructed
- Englishtodaytrial
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Today it means
noun An occasion on which a person or thing is tested to find out how well they perform or how suitable they are.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “trial”. 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 / Old French trier / trial