Probate

How to spell probate

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce probate

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does probate mean?

1. nounThe legal process by which a will is officially proved and an executor is given authority to administer the deceased person's estate.
2. verbTo establish the validity of a will through a court, or to put a will through that legal process.

Probate in a sentence

• noun

  The solicitor explained that probate can take several months to complete.

• verb

  The executor hired a lawyer to probate the will efficiently.

• noun

  The family could not sell the house until probate was granted.

• verb

  The court will probate the document only after verifying the signatures.

Where does probate come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin probare, a verb meaning 'to test, to try, or to prove the worth of something', which itself grew from probus, meaning 'good, upright, or honest'. The specific form behind the English word is the Latin probatum, the past participle meaning 'proved' or 'approved'. By the late medieval period, lawyers used the noun probatum to describe the formal proving of a will before a court, confirming it as genuine and valid. English took the word up in the fifteenth century, keeping the legal sense of officially establishing that a will is authentic and granting authority to deal with the dead person's estate. The same probare root sits inside familiar relatives such as 'prove', 'probable', and 'approve', and remembering that probate is literally about proving a will helps fix the spelling with its plain -ate ending.

How the word is built

• prob- (from probare: to test, prove)
• -ate (noun/verb suffix)