Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “precise” come from?

Precise comes from Middle French précis, from Latin praecisus, the past participle of praecido meaning to cut short, from caedo to cut and prae before.

precise (English): exact, accurate; consistent, clustered close...

Definitions

  1. exact, accurate; consistent, clustered close...

Ancestry of “precise”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Frenchprécis—
2Latinpraecīsus—
3Latinpraecīdō—
4Latinpraebefore; in front; in front of
5Proto-Italicprai—
6Proto-Indo-Europeanpreh₂-before, in front
7Proto-Indo-Europeanper-before, in front; first; to go through
8Proto-Indo-Europeanpr̥tóspassed , crossed

Words derived from “precise”

  • precisely
  • imprecise
  • prissy
  • preciseness
  • imprecisely
  • precisian
  • precisification
  • impreciseness
  • prissily
  • unprecise
  • prissiness
  • ultraprecise
  • overprecise
  • precisify
  • precisianism
  • nonprecise
  • precisianist
  • superprecise
  • overpreciseness
  • pseudoprecise
Every word from Proto-Indo-European pr̥tós →