Experienced

How to spell experienced

11 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce experienced

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does experienced mean?

1. adjectiveHaving gained knowledge or skill in a particular field through doing it over a long period.
2. verbPast tense of experience: to have undergone or felt something.

Experienced in a sentence

• adjective

  The firm hired an experienced accountant to handle the merger.

• verb

  The region experienced heavy flooding after the storm passed.

• adjective

  Only experienced climbers should attempt the northern route.

• verb

  She experienced a sharp pain in her knee during the run.

Where does experienced come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word traces back to the Latin verb experiri, meaning 'to try' or 'to put to the test', built from the prefix ex- 'out' and a root related to periculum, which originally meant 'a trial' and later came to mean 'danger' (the same root behind 'peril'). From experiri came the noun experientia, 'a trial, proof, or knowledge gained by trying', which passed into Old French as experience and reached English in the late 1300s. The verb 'to experience', meaning to undergo or feel something, developed from that noun, and 'experienced' is its past form, used as an adjective to describe someone who has gained skill through repeated trial. The shared link with 'peril' is a useful reminder that real experience often came from facing risk. The spelling trap is the quiet middle: writers must keep the -ri- and the -ence intact before adding -ed, so the full chain experi + ence + ed survives without dropping the e.

How the word is built

• ex- (out, from)
• peri (root of experiri: to try, test)
• -ence (noun-forming)
• -ed (past tense/adjective suffix)