Where does “prevent” come from?
Prevent comes from Middle English preventen, from Latin praeventus, past participle of praevenio, combining prae- with venio, meaning to come, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European gʷem-.
prevent (English): To stop (an outcome); to keep from (doing something)
Definitions
- To stop (an outcome); to keep from (doing something)
Ancestry of “prevent”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | preventen | anticipate |
| 2 | Latin | praeventus | anticipated |
| 3 | Latin | praeveniō | to anticipate |
| 4 | Latin | veniō | to come (to a place), come in, arrive, reach |
| 5 | Proto-Italic | gʷenjō | to come |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | gʷm̥yéti | to come |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -yéti | Creates intransitive, often deponent,... |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | yé- | — |
| 9 | Chichewa | iye | he, she |
Words derived from “prevent”
- preventive
- preventative
- preventable
- chemopreventive
- preventer
- preventively
- preventible
- unpreventable
- preventability
- preventatively
- preventeth
- chemopreventative
- preventest
- nonpreventable
- unpreventably
- preventiveness
- unpreventability
- chemoprevent
- preventor
- preventory
- impreventable
- pathopreventive
- preventableness
- angiopreventive