Sample

How to spell sample

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce sample

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does sample mean?

1. nounA small part or quantity intended to show what the whole is like.
2. verbTo take or try a small part of something to judge the whole.

Sample in a sentence

• noun

  The lab tested a blood sample from each patient.

• verb

  Shoppers could sample the cheeses before buying.

• noun

  She requested a free sample of the new face cream.

• verb

  The producer wanted to sample a drum loop from the old record.

Where does sample come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Sample comes from the Old French essample, a variant of example, which traces back to the Latin exemplum, meaning a sample, pattern, or model that was 'taken out' to show what the rest was like. That Latin noun was built on eximere, 'to take out or remove', combining ex 'out' with emere 'to take or buy'. In Middle English the leading vowel wore away, so essample became asaumple and finally the trimmed sample we write today, while its longer cousin example kept the fuller form. Both words therefore share one ancestor, which is why a sample and an example both mean a small thing standing in for a larger whole. The word arrived in English in the 1300s and quickly settled into trade and craft language, where merchants showed a sample of cloth or grain to represent a whole batch.

How the word is built

• sample (from Old French essample, a shortened form of Latin exemplum: a specimen or example)