Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “Prior” come from?

Prior comes from Middle English prior, derived from Middle English prior, with the ultimate origin and meaning obscured by insufficient historical documentation.

Ancestry of “Prior”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Latinpriorformer, prior, previous; the first, the original;...
2Proto-Italicpriōsformer
3Proto-Italicprijōs—
4Proto-Italic-jōsForms comparative adjectives
5Proto-Indo-European-yósCreates adjectives from noun or verb stems

Words derived from “Prior”

  • Priorian
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -yós →