Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “priory” come from?

Priory comes from Old French priorie, from Latin prioria, the feminine form of prior meaning "former" or "superior," ultimately from Proto-Indo-European per-.

priory (English): A monastery or convent governed by a prior or...

Definitions

  1. A monastery or convent governed by a prior or...

Ancestry of “priory”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old Frenchprioriepriory
2Latinprioriapriory
3Latinpriorformer, prior, previous; the first, the original;...
4Proto-Italicpriōsformer
5Proto-Italicprijōs—
6Proto-Italic-jōsForms comparative adjectives
7Proto-Indo-European-yósCreates adjectives from noun or verb stems
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -yós →