Prescience
/ˈpriː.si.əns/noun
Knowledge of events before they happen; foresight.
Did you know?Prescience comes from Latin *praescientia*, a word built on *prae* (“before”) + *scientia* (“knowledge”), and its deeper root *scire* is the same ancient source behind “science” and “conscious.”
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*skei-
“to cut, split; later extended in Latin to 'to know, to discern' through semantic development”
Latin
Latin
prae- + scientia
“before-knowledge, foresight”
Late Latin
Latin
praescientia
“foreknowledge”
Old French
Old French
prescience
“foreknowledge, prophetic insight”
14th–15th Century
English
prescience
“knowledge of events before they occur”
Modern English
English
prescience
“the ability to know or predict something in advance”
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