English
previous
Previous perhaps derives from Latin praevius ‘going before’ (prae- + via ‘way’).
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English previous
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1963, Margery Allingham, Foreword: “He stood transfixed before the unaccustomed view of London…”.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpraeviusWiktionary, English previous‘going before’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1963previousWiktionary, English previous. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1963, Margery Allingham, Foreword: “He stood transfixed before the unaccustomed view of London…”
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with previous, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Proto-Indo-European *weyh₁- ‘to pursue, be strong’
- virtual ← vertual ← vertüal ← virtuālis ← virtūs
- violent ← violentus ← vīs ← *wīs ← *wéyHs
- violation ← violātiō ← violō ← vīs ← *wīs
- inevitable ← inēvītābilis ← ēvītābilis ← ēvītāre ← vitō
- virtue ← vertu ← vertu ← virtus ← vir
- vengeance ← vengeaunce ← vengier ← vindicō ← vindex
- violate ← violaten ← violat ← violātus ← violō
- avenge ← avengen ← avengier ← vengier ← vindicāre
- vis ← *wīs ← *wéyHs
- venison ← venisoun ← veneisun ← vēnātiō ← vēnor
- wer ← *weraz ← *wiHrós
- virtuoso ← virtuōsus ← virtūs ← vir ← *wiros
85 more relatives in the full family tree
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Today it means
adj Prior; occurring before something else, either in time or order.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “previous”. 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 praevius / previous