Etymology

fore-

Today it means: Before: the root is happening earlier in time. Full definition →

Middle English fore- ← Old English fore- ← Proto-West Germanic *forē-
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

fore- · prefix1

  1. Proto-Indo-European*per-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*preh₂-
  3. Proto-Indo-European*pr̥h₂éy
  4. Proto-Germanic*furai
  5. Proto-Germanic*furai-
  6. Proto-West Germanic*forē-
  7. Old Englishfore-
  8. Middle Englishfore-
  9. English todayfore-

From Middle English fore-, from Old English fore-, from Proto-West Germanic *forē-, from Proto-Germanic *fura-, *furai- (“before, in front of, for”), from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“before, formerly; through, throughout”). Akin to Old Saxon and Old High German fora-, Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌰- (faura-) (see 𐍆𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌰 (faura)), Dutch voor- (“fore-”).

fore- · prefix2

"Occurring only in words adopted from French, as forcatch v., forfeit n., forprise n., represents Old French for-, fors-, identical with fors adv. (modern French hors) outside, out."

Words from the same roots

Proto-Germanic*fura- all →

forward

Proto-Indo-European*per- all →

beforefurthersportprimeseparatefearexperimentfareforthcomingparamountparseemporiumpostpartumparlaypareperihelionappriseportentousparamourfraisefirnparlousafeardisportforlorn hopefornefraistmi-partimisprisionporte cochère

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.