Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “precocious” come from?

Precocious comes from Latin praecox, meaning early-ripening, from praecoquere, combining prae- (before) and coquere (to cook or ripen).

precocious (English): Characterized by exceptionally early development...

Definitions

  1. Characterized by exceptionally early development...

Ancestry of “precocious”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Latinpraecoxripe before its time; premature; precocious;...
2Latinpraecoquō—
3Latincoquō—
4EnglishCook—
5Germankochento cook, to prepare food; to boil; to be stirred...
6Middle High Germankochento cook
7Old High Germankohhōnto cook
8Proto-Germanickukōnąto cook
9Proto-Germanickukazcook
10LatincoquusA cook; person who makes food
11Latin-ussuffix forming adjectives from nouns, verbs,...
12Old Latin-osaccusative masculine plural of -us
13Proto-Italic-os—
14Proto-Indo-European-ósCreates agent nouns from verb stems, denoting...

Words derived from “precocious”

  • precociously
  • precociousness
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -ós →