Experience

How to spell experience

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce experience

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does experience mean?

1. nounKnowledge or skill gained over time through doing or seeing things firsthand.
2. verbTo undergo or feel something as it happens to you.

Experience in a sentence

• noun

  The job requires several years of relevant experience.

• verb

  Many travellers experience jet lag after a long flight.

• noun

  Her years of nursing experience made her calm under pressure.

• verb

  New managers often experience stress in their first month.

Where does experience come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb experiri, meaning 'to try' or 'to put to the test', formed from the prefix ex- ('out, thoroughly') and a root peri- connected to trying or attempting. From experiri came the noun experientia, meaning 'a trial' or 'knowledge gained from testing something'. English took the word in during the late 1300s by way of Old French experience, at first carrying the sense of a practical trial or proof, and only later settling into the modern meaning of knowledge built up through living and doing. The same peri- root also lurks inside 'experiment', 'expert', and even 'peril', since attempting something risky was the original idea. Knowing that the middle is 'peri', the same chunk as in 'experiment', helps lock in the spelling and steer writers away from the wrong 'experiance' ending.

How the word is built

• ex- (out, thoroughly)
• peri- (root meaning 'try, attempt')
• -ence (noun-forming suffix)