"P" Word Origins

pragmatist

Origin

From Ancient Greek πρᾶγμα (prâgma, “thing”).

Prague

German

From German Prag, ultimately from Slavic, a doublet of Czech Praha.

prairie

Latin

Borrowed from French "prairie" ("meadow"), from Latin "pratum," meaning "meadow."

praise

Latin

From Old French "preisier" ("to prize" or "to value"), from Latin "pretiare," from "pretium" ("price" or "value") — making "praise" a distant cousin of "price" and "prize."

praiseworthily

Origin

From praiseworthy + -ly.

praiseworthy

Origin

From praise + -worthy.

Prakash

Sanskrit

From Sanskrit प्रकाश (prakāśa, "light").

pram

Latin

A shortening of "perambulator," itself built from Latin "perambulare" ("to walk through") plus the agent suffix "-or."

prana

Origin

From Sanskrit प्राण (prāṇa, “breath; life”).

prance

Middle English

From Middle English "prancen," likely a variant of "pranken" ("to show off"), related to "prank" in its older sense of dressing or acting ostentatiously.

prancer

Origin

From "prance" plus the agent suffix "-er."

prank

Dutch

Origin uncertain, but likely tied to an old sense of "showing off" or "dressing ostentatiously," related to Dutch "pronken" ("to flaunt"). The modern "mischievous trick" sense grew from an earlier idea of being crafty or putting on an act.

prank call

English

A compound of prank and call, on the pattern of earlier crank call.

prank war

English

A compound of prank and war, using war in its common figurative sense of a sustained back-and-forth contest.

prankishness

Origin

From prankish + -ness.

pranksomeness

Origin

From pranksome + -ness.

prankster

Origin

Formed from "prank" plus the agent suffix "-ster," as in "gangster" or "trickster."

prasad

Sanskrit

From Hindi/Sanskrit "prasad," meaning "grace" or "favor."

prashant

Sanskrit

A playful corruption of "croissant," shaped by the sound of the Sanskrit-derived name Prashant, meaning "calm" or "peaceful."

prat

Old English

From Old English "prætt," meaning "trick" or "wile" — the sense shifted over time from "a trick" to "a foolish person," and separately came to mean "buttocks."

prate

Origin

From Middle English praten; either inherited from Old English prætt or borrowed via Middle Dutch or Middle Low German praten (from Old Saxon *pratt), all from Proto-West Germanic *prattu, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *prattuz (“idle or boastful talk, deceit”), from Proto-Indo-European *bred- (“to wander, rove”). Related to Dutch praten (“to talk, chat”), Low German praten, dated German pfrassen, Danish prate, Swedish prata (“to talk, prate”), Faroese práta (“to talk, gossip”), Icelandic prata;; also cognate with Polish bredzić (“to rave, jabber”), Latvian bradāt (“to talk nonsense”).

prater

Origin

From prate + -er.

pratfall

Origin

From prat + fall.

PRATT

Origin

An initialism formed from "point refuted a thousand times," coined in online debate communities.

prattle

Origin

From "prate" (to chatter) plus the frequentative ending "-le," suggesting repeated small chattering.

prattler

Origin

From prattle + -er.

pravity

Origin

From Middle French pravité, and its source, Latin prāvitās (“crookedness; depravity”), from prāvus (“prave”).

prawn

Middle English · 1400

First recorded in the 1400s in Middle English forms like "prayne" and "prane"; its deeper origin is unclear and disputed among etymologists.

praxis

Origin

Partly from Latin prāxis and partly from its etymon Ancient Greek πρᾶξις (prâxis, “action, activity, practice”).

pray

Latin

From Old French "preier," from Latin "precari" ("to beg" or "to entreat"), from "prex," meaning "request" or "prayer."

prayer

Late Latin

From Old French "preiere," from Late Latin "precaria," related to Latin "precari" ("to beg") — the same root as "pray."

prayers

Latin

Plural of prayer, from Old French preiere, from Latin precaria, from precari meaning 'to entreat'.

pre

Latin

From Latin "prae," meaning "in front of" or "before" — the same root behind the prefix "pre-" in words like "prepare" and "preview."

pre-order

Latin

From the prefix pre-, from Latin prae meaning 'before', plus order, from Old French ordre and Latin ordo.

pre-owned

Latin

From the prefix pre-, from Latin prae meaning 'before', plus owned, from Old English agnian meaning 'to possess'.

preach

Latin

From Old French "prechier," from Latin "praedicare," meaning "to proclaim" or "announce publicly."

preacher

Latin

From Middle English "prechour," from Old French "preecheor," ultimately from Latin "praedicator" ("one who proclaims publicly").

preaching

Middle English

From Middle English "prechynge," the -ing form of "preach."

preamble

Latin

From Latin praeambulus "walking in front", from prae- "before" + ambulare "to walk", reaching English through Old French preambule.

precarious

Latin

From Latin "precarius," meaning "obtained by begging" or "depending on another's favor," from "prex" ("prayer" or "request") — the idea being that something granted at another's whim could be taken away just as easily.

precatory

Origin

From Late Latin precatorius, from Latin precari (“to pray”).

precaution

Latin

From French "précaution," from Latin "praecautio," from "praecavere" ("to guard against beforehand") — combining "prae" ("before") and "cavere" ("to be careful").

precautionary

Origin

From "precaution" plus the adjective suffix "-ary."

precede

Latin

From Latin "praecedere," combining "prae-" ("before") and "cedere" ("to go") — literally "to go before."

precedence

French

From French "précédence," built on "precede" plus the noun suffix "-ence."

precedency

Origin

From precedent + -ency.

precedent

Latin

From Latin "praecedens," the present participle of "praecedere" ("to precede") — see "precede."

preceding

Latin

From the Latin-derived verb precede (\"to go before\"), plus the -ing ending.