The word “examine” comes from the Latin word examinare, which means “to test.” This Latin root gave rise to two different words in English: “examination” and “examine.” Examination is the more formal word, while examine is more common in everyday speech.

Examination comes from the Latin verb examinare, which means “to test” or “to put to the proof.” The noun form of this verb, examinationem (pronounced ehks-uh-muh-NAY-tuhm), entered English in the late 14th century. It wasn’t until about 200 years later that we started using it as a synonym for “test” or “quiz.”

The other English descendant of examinare is examine, which first appeared in writing during the early 16th century. Unlike examination, examine did not come directly from Latin—it was actually borrowed into Middle English from Old French examiner (pronounced eks-zah-mee-NAIR). Old French descended from Late Latin examināre, meaning literally “to weigh out thoroughly” or figuratively “to consider carefully before making a decision about something.