discover

In a sentence

• Marie Curie helped discover two new chemical elements, polonium and radium.
• While cleaning the attic, the children discovered a box of old family photographs.

Usage note. Be careful: 'discover' implies the thing already existed but was unknown; use 'invent' when something new is created for the first time.

Where it comes from

From Old French 'descovrir,' meaning 'to uncover or reveal,' formed from 'des-' (un-) and 'covrir' (to cover), which came from Latin 'discooperire.' It entered English in the 14th century. The sense of 'finding something previously unknown' became prominent during the Age of Exploration.