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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

test.

A challenge, trial.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/tɛst/General-American, Received-Pronunciation[tʰɛst]General-American, Received-Pronunciation[tʰest]Australia, General-South-African, New-Zealand
  1. A challenge, trial.

  2. A challenge, trial. An examination, given often during the academic term.

  3. A challenge, trial. A session in which a product, piece of equipment, or system is examined under everyday or extreme conditions to evaluate its durability, etc.

  4. A challenge, trial. A standardised measure, consisting of one or more items.

    aptitude test
    Test Theory
  5. A challenge, trial. A Test match.

  6. The external calciferous shell, or endoskeleton, of an echinoderm, e.g. sand dollars and sea urchins; testa.

  7. A cupel or cupelling hearth in which precious metals are melted for trial and refinement.

  8. Testa; seed coat.

  9. Judgment; distinction; discrimination.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Middle English test, teste, from Old French test, teste (“an earthen vessel, especially a pot in which metals were tried”), from Latin testum (“the lid of an earthen vessel, an earthen vessel, an earthen pot”), from *terstus, past participle of the root *tersa (“dry land”). See terra, thirst. The examination sense came via metaphor of the metallurgical sense: the way a metallurgist puts to the test their gold, a teacher may put to the test their students' knowledge. Displaced Old English afandung.

verb/tɛst/General-American, Received-Pronunciation[tʰɛst]General-American, Received-Pronunciation[tʰest]Australia, General-South-African, New-Zealand
  1. To challenge, to put a strain on (something).

    Climbing the mountain tested our stamina.
  2. To refine (gold, silver, etc.) in a test or cupel; to subject to cupellation.

  3. To put to the proof; to prove the truth, genuineness, or quality of by experiment, or by some principle or standard; to try.

    to test the soundness of a principle
    to test the validity of an argument
  4. To administer or assign an examination, often given during the academic term, to (somebody).

  5. To place a product or piece of equipment under everyday and/or extreme conditions and examine it for its durability, etc.

  6. To be shown to be by test.

    copulative
    He tested positive for cancer.
  7. To examine or try, as by the use of some reagent.

    to test a solution by litmus paper
  8. To challenge (someone) to a fight.

    intransitive · slang · transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English test, teste, from Old French test, teste (“an earthen vessel, especially a pot in which metals were tried”), from Latin testum (“the lid of an earthen vessel, an earthen vessel, an earthen pot”), from *terstus, past participle of the root *tersa (“dry land”). See terra, thirst. The examination sense came via metaphor of the metallurgical sense: the way a metallurgist puts to the test their gold, a teacher may put to the test their students' knowledge. Displaced Old English afandung.

noun/tɛst/General-American, Received-Pronunciation[tʰɛst]General-American, Received-Pronunciation[tʰest]Australia, General-South-African, New-Zealand
  1. A witness.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Middle English teste, from Old French teste, test and Latin testis (“one who attests, a witness”).

verb/tɛst/General-American, Received-Pronunciation[tʰɛst]General-American, Received-Pronunciation[tʰest]Australia, General-South-African, New-Zealand
  1. To attest (a document) legally, and date it.

    obsolete · transitive
  2. To make a testament, or will.

    intransitive · obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Middle English teste, from Old French teste, test and Latin testis (“one who attests, a witness”).

noun/tɛst/General-American, Received-Pronunciation[tʰɛst]General-American, Received-Pronunciation[tʰest]Australia, General-South-African, New-Zealand
  1. Clipping of testosterone.

    abbreviation · alt-of · clipping · informal · slang · uncountable
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.