Exam
nounA formal test of knowledge or ability, usually written and timed.
How to spell exam
4 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce exam
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does exam mean?
- nounA formal test of knowledge or ability, usually written and timed.
Exam in a sentence
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She revised every night for the final exam.
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The exam lasted three hours and covered the whole syllabus.
Where does exam come from?
Language of origin: Latin
The word 'exam' is a clipped, informal shortening of 'examination', which English took from the Latin examen, meaning 'a weighing' or 'the tongue of a balance'. That image of weighing came from the verb exigere, 'to weigh out' or 'to test', built from ex 'out' and agere 'to drive or do'. The full form 'examination' entered English through Old French in the 1300s in the sense of a careful inquiry or testing, and the school sense of a formal test arose in the 1700s. The short form 'exam' appeared in the nineteenth century as casual student slang and is now thoroughly standard. Because it is simply the front of the longer word, its spelling holds no trap beyond remembering it ends cleanly at the 'm'.
How the word is built
- shortened form of 'examination'; exam(ine) (from examen: a weighing, testing) with the longer suffix dropped
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