Etymograph

English

prospect

Prospect comes from Latin prōspectus ‘view, sight, prospect’, and goes back to prōspiciō ‘to look forward’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprōspiciō1‘to look forward’
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEprōspectus1‘view, sight, prospect’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500prospecte1
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1611prospect1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English prospect
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “Their prospect was toward the south.”.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprōspiciōWiktionary, English prospect‘to look forward’
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEprōspectusWiktionary, English prospect‘view, sight, prospect’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500prospecteWiktionary, English prospect
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1611prospectWiktionary, English prospect. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “Their prospect was toward the south.”

A compound of pro ‘before, forward’ + spiciō ‘to look, to see’

Proto-Indo-European *pró ‘toward’

Proto-Italic *prō ‘for’

Latin pro ‘before, forward’

Proto-Indo-European *speḱ- ‘to see, to look, to observe’

Proto-Indo-European *spéḱyeti ‘to be looking at, to keep looking at’

Proto-Italic *spekjō ‘to observe, see’

Latin speciō ‘to look, to see’

Every English word from Latin prōspiciō

Today it means

noun The region which the eye overlooks at one time; a view; a scene; an outlook.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “prospect”. 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 prōspiciō / prospect

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