Definition
Provenance is evidence about where something came from, who or what handled it, and how it changed. The subject might be data, code, a model, a prompt, a tool, a generated artifact, or a factual claim.
The W3C PROV standards describe provenance through entities, activities, and agents. In practical terms, a useful record connects an artifact to its source inputs, transformations, responsible identities, timestamps, versions, and custody changes. That connection lets a reviewer assess quality, reproduce a result, investigate contamination, or identify what must be recalled after a compromised dependency is found.
Provenance records are claims, not magic proof. A URL gives a location, and a hash proves that bytes match, but neither proves who created the content or whether the capture was complete. Strong provenance combines trustworthy collection, identity, access control, tamper evidence, and enough detail for the decision being made.
Distinguish it from nearby terms
Provenance emphasizes origin, attribution, and custody. Lineage emphasizes the path of transformations and dependencies. The concepts overlap, and many systems use the terms interchangeably. A citation points to supporting material but usually records only one small part of provenance.
Check your understanding
A report links to a live webpage but records no author, publication date, capture time, version, or excerpt. The link may help a reader, but it is not enough to reconstruct the evidence used for the report.