test
/tɛst/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.19 in modern English
4
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The external calciferous shell, or endoskeleton, of an echinoderm, e.g. sand dollars and sea urchins; testa.
noun
A cupel or cupelling hearth in which precious metals are melted for trial and refinement.
Example Sentences
- "Numerous experimental tests and other observations have been offered in favor of animal mind reading, and although many scientists are skeptical, others assert that humans are not the only species capable of representing what others do and don’t perceive and know."
- "It's Christmas at ground zero / The button has been pressed / The radio / Just let us know / That this is not a test"
- "aptitude test"
- "Test Theory"
- "Who would excel, when few can make a test / Betwixt indifferent writing and the best?"
- "Climbing the mountain tested our stamina."
Etymology
From Middle English test, teste, from Old French test, teste (“an earthen vessel, especially a pot in which metals were tried”), from Latin testum (“the lid of an earthen vessel, an earthen vessel, an earthen pot”), from *terstus, past participle of the root *tersa (“dry land”). See terra, thirst. The examination sense came via metaphor of the metallurgical sense: the way a metallurgist puts to the test their gold, a teacher may put to the test their students' knowledge. Displaced Old English afandung.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /tɛst/
- British English: /tɛst/
Usage
Inflected Forms
tests (plural)
tests (present, singular)
testing (participle, present)
tested (participle, past)
tested (past)
no-table-tags (table tags)
glossary (inflection template)
tested (first person, past)
testest (archaic, present)
tested (past, second person)
testedst (archaic, past)
testeth (archaic, present)