Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “prescience” come from?

Prescience comes from French prescience, from Latin praescientia, a noun form of praescio meaning "to know beforehand," from the prefix prae- combined with a root related to Proto-Indo-European skey- and sek-, both expressing knowing or cutting.

prescience (English): Knowledge of events before they take place;...

Definitions

  1. Knowledge of events before they take place;...

Ancestry of “prescience”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishthanks—
2Old Englishþancasthanks
3Proto-Germanicþankōs—
4Proto-Germanicþankazthought; mind; consideration; remembrance;...
5Proto-Indo-Europeanteng-to think
Every word from Proto-Indo-European teng- →