Etymograph

English

prescience

Prescience comes from Latin praescientia ‘foreknowledge, prescience’, and goes back to sciō ‘to be able to, to know (how to do),…’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsciō1‘to be able to, to know (how to do), understand, to have practical knowledge’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpraesciō2‘foreknow’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpraesciens2‘foreknowing’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpraescientia3‘foreknowledge, prescience’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400prescience3
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500prescience3
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1754prescience3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin praescio
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin praescientia
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English prescience
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1754, Jonathan Edwards: “God's certain prescience of the volitions of moral agents”.

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsciōWiktionary, Latin praescio‘to be able to, to know (how to do), understand, to have practical knowledge’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpraesciōWiktionary, Latin praescientia‘foreknow’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpraesciensWiktionary, Latin praescientia‘foreknowing’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpraescientiaWiktionary, English prescience‘foreknowledge, prescience’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400prescienceWiktionary, English prescience
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500prescienceWiktionary, English prescience
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1754prescienceWiktionary, English prescience. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1754, Jonathan Edwards: “God's certain prescience of the volitions of moral agents”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *skey- ‘to distinguish, dissect’

ship, equipment, shift, shed, skip, kyle, ski, shin, conscience, sheath, squire, skeet, skiff, scuttle, chine, skein, scullery, shud, 41 more

through Proto-Italic *skijō

nicely, 14 more

through Latin sciō ‘to be able to, to know (how to do),…’

nice, scientific, conscious, omniscience, 17 more

Today it means

noun Such knowledge that is supernatural or paranormal in nature, including the prediction of things that nobody could have known by the ordinary senses.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “prescience”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin praescio, Latin praescientia. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Latin sciō / prescience

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