Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “precocity” come from?

Precocity comes from French précocité, derived from Latin praecoquere meaning "to ripen early," composed of prae "before" and coquus "cook."

precocity (English): The state of being precocious

Definitions

  1. The state of being precocious

Ancestry of “precocity”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Frenchprécocitéthe state of being ahead of time, earliness
2Frenchprécoceearly; premature, precocious
3Latinpraecoxripe before its time; premature; precocious;...
4Latinpraecoquō—
5Latincoquō—
6EnglishCook—
7Germankochento cook, to prepare food; to boil; to be stirred...
8Middle High Germankochento cook
9Old High Germankohhōnto cook
10Proto-Germanickukōnąto cook
11Proto-Germanickukazcook
12LatincoquusA cook; person who makes food
13Latin-ussuffix forming adjectives from nouns, verbs,...
14Old Latin-osaccusative masculine plural of -us
15Proto-Italic-os—
16Proto-Indo-European-ósCreates agent nouns from verb stems, denoting...
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -ós →