proven
/ˈpɹu.vn̩/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.33 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
Example Sentences
- "It's a proven fact that morphine is a more effective painkiller than acetaminophen is."
- "Mass lexical comparison is not a proven method for demonstrating relationships between languages."
Etymology
From Scottish English, as past participle of preve, a Middle English variant of prove – compare woven (from weave) and cloven (from cleave), both of which feature -eve → -oven. Preve died out in England, but survived in Scotland, where proven developed, initially in a legal context, as in “The jury ruled that the charges were not proven.” See usage notes for historical usage patterns. Earlier, from Late Latin probō (“test, try, examine, approve, show to be good or fit, prove”, verb), from Latin probus (“good, worthy, excellent”), from Proto-Indo-European *pro-bʰuH-s (“being in front, prominent”), from *pro-, *per- (“toward”) + *bʰuH- (“to be”). Morphologically prove + -n.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈpɹu.vn̩/
- British English: /ˈpɹuː.vn̩/
Inflected Forms
more proven (comparative)
most proven (superlative)