Etymograph

English

presentiment

Presentiment comes from Middle French pressentir.

  1. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600pressentir1
  2. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600pressentiment2
  3. Frenchc. 1600–presentpressentiment3
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1768presentiment3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Middle French pressentiment
  2. 2 Wiktionary, French pressentiment
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English presentiment
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1768, Mr. Yorick pseudonym; Laurence Sterne, A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy: “A man, my good Sir, has seldom an offer…”.

Lineage

  1. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600pressentirWiktionary, Middle French pressentiment
  2. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600pressentimentWiktionary, French pressentiment
  3. Frenchc. 1600–presentpressentimentWiktionary, English presentiment
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1768presentimentWiktionary, English presentiment. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1768, Mr. Yorick pseudonym; Laurence Sterne, A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy: “A man, my good Sir, has seldom an offer…”

Formed from pre- + sentiment

Proto-Italic *prai ‘before’

Proto-Italic *prai- ‘pre-, before’

English pre-

Proto-Indo-European *sent- ‘to perceive’

Proto-Italic *sentiō ‘to feel, to sense, to perceive’

Latin sentiō ‘to feel, to sense, to perceive’

Latin sentimentum ‘feeling, opinion, sentiment’

Old French sentement

English sentiment

Every English word from Middle French pressentir

Today it means

noun A premonition; a feeling that something, often of undesirable nature, is going to happen.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “presentiment”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Middle French pressentiment, French pressentiment. 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 / Middle French pressentir / presentiment

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