What does source mean?
Source is a broad noun denoting an origin, starting point, or provider of information, materials, or evidence. A journalist may verify a report against reliable sources, while a historian may consult a primary source from an earlier period. The word can also refer to the place or organization from which a commodity is obtained, as when a company sources materials from a particular supplier. As a verb, source has two complementary uses: to trace something to its origin and to obtain something from a particular place. Its common related form “sourced” often describes information backed by evidence or a product provided by a named supplier. Source is especially useful because it distinguishes not merely what is known, but where knowledge, evidence, or materials come from.
A place, person, document, organization, or other origin from which information, evidence, materials, or supplies come.
"The newspaper cited its sources but withheld the identity of one confidential informant."
The sense varies by context: sources of information are people or publications, while sources of supply are places or organizations.
To obtain something from an origin or supplier, or to trace something to its source.
"The designer sourced the fabric from a family-owned mill."
The verb is standard in journalism, research, business, and manufacturing contexts.
The plural is commonly used for multiple documents, people, organizations, or places from which information or materials come.
"The scholar compared the testimony of several sources before publishing her findings."
Source comes from Latin surgere, “to rise or spring forth”—the same root behind surge and the water spring that once gave the word its original meaning.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of source
The English noun developed from Old French source, while the verb was borrowed from Old French sourcer. Both ultimately trace to Latin surgere, meaning “to rise” or “to spring forth.” The sense of a source of water developed from this imagery, and the verb originally referred to drawing or rising from a source. The same Latin root underlies cognates such as surge, insurgent, and resurrect.
Related word forms
How source is actually used
The noun is common in journalism, scholarship, business, and everyday speech. As a verb, source is somewhat more specialized and often implies obtaining something from a particular supplier or tracing an idea, claim, or work to its origin. The usual pronunciation differs between British and American English.