Where does “prefigure” come from?
Prefigure comes from Middle English prefiguren, from Latin praefigurare meaning to shape beforehand, from figurare meaning to form or shape, derived from the root fingo meaning to mold or fashion, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European dʰeyǵʰ-.
prefigure (English): To show or suggest ahead of time; to represent...
Definitions
- To show or suggest ahead of time; to represent...
Ancestry of “prefigure”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | prefiguren | — |
| 2 | Latin | praefigurare | — |
| 3 | Latin | figurare | present active infinitive of figūrō;... |
| 4 | Latin | figuro | I form, fashion, shape |
| 5 | Latin | figūra | shape, form, figure |
| 6 | Latin | fingō | to shape, fashion, form, knead (dough) |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | dʰeyǵʰ- | to knead; to form, to shape |