Examiner

How to spell examiner

8 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce examiner

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does examiner mean?

1. nounA person who tests knowledge, ability, or fitness, or who formally inspects something.

Examiner in a sentence

• The examiner marked every paper against the same rubric.

• A driving examiner sat beside her throughout the test.

Where does examiner come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb examinare, meaning 'to weigh' or 'to test', which was built on examen, the word for the tongue or needle of a balance scale, the part that shows whether the weights are even. Examen itself was a contraction of an older exagmen, formed from exigere, 'to weigh out' or 'to ascertain', a compound of ex- 'out' and agere 'to drive or lead'. The sense moved naturally from literally weighing goods on a balance to figuratively weighing a person's knowledge or evidence. English took the verb 'examine' through Old French examiner in the 1300s, and the agent noun 'examiner', the person who does the examining, followed by adding the familiar -er ending. Knowing the single m of the Latin examen helps explain why the modern word keeps just one m, never two.

How the word is built

• examin- (from Latin examinare: to weigh, test)
• -er (agent suffix: one who does)