Standard Lemma guide

provenience

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /pɹə(ʊ)ˈviːni.ən(t)s/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /pɹə(ʊ)ˈviːnjən(t)s/
  • General-American: /pɹoʊˈvini.ən(t)s/
  • General-American: /pɹoʊˈvinjən(t)s/
  • General-American: /pɹə-/
  • CMU ARPABET: P R AH0 V EH1 N IY0 AH0 N S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

source; findspot; origin

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: archaeology, history, human-sciences, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

provenance, history

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Qualifier: more loosely; outside of archaeology; more loosely; outside of archaeology

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

where something originated or was nurtured in its early existence

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • the birthplace of civilization

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: birthplace, cradle, place of origin, provenance

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: beginning, origin, root, rootage, source

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *per-der.? Proto-Indo-European *per-der.? Proto-Indo-European *pér Proto-Indo-European *-o Proto-Indo-European *pró Proto-Indo-European *pro- Proto-Italic *pro- Latin prō- Proto-Indo-European *gwem- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *gwm̥yéti Proto-Italic *gwəniō Latin veniō Latin prōveniō Latin prōveniēnsbor. English provenience Borrowed from Latin prōveniēns, present participle of prōvenīre (“to come up”); compare provene, provenient, and provenance.

Across languages

Translations

6 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Finnish: alkuperä — source, origin
  • Finnish: provenienssi — source, origin
  • Kapampangan: ibatan — source, origin
  • Kapampangan: penibatan — source, origin
  • Kapampangan: pibatan — source, origin
  • Russian: исто́чник (istóčnik) — source, origin