Etymology Explorer › English

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 ; to keep from; To take preventative...

Definitions

  1. To stop ; to keep from; To take preventative...

Ancestry of “prevent”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishpreventenanticipate
2Latinpraeventus
3Latinpraeveniō—
4Latinveniō—
5Proto-Italicgʷenjōto come
6Proto-Indo-Europeangʷm̥yéti—
7Proto-Indo-European-yétiCreates intransitive, often deponent,...
8Proto-Indo-Europeanyé-—
9Chichewaiyehe, she

Words derived from “prevent”

  • prevention
  • preventive
  • preventative
  • preventable
  • chemoprevention
  • chemopreventive
  • preventer
  • preventively
  • preventible
  • unpreventable
  • preventability
  • preventatively
  • preventeth
  • chemopreventative
  • preventest
  • nonpreventable
  • immunoprevention
  • nonprevention
  • unpreventably
  • preventiveness
  • preventional
  • pathopreventive
  • unpreventableness
  • preventableness
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