A trial made to find out whether something holds. A test does not create soundness; it reveals what was already true.
Old French test (a small earthen vessel used to assay metals), from Latin testum (an earthen pot); a trial made to find out whether something holds was first, literally, the pot the assay was fired in.
A trial made to find out whether something holds. It does not create soundness; it only reveals what was already true before the trial began.