Etymology

overprescribe

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Today it means: To prescribe (a drug) more frequently than appropriate. Full definition →

English prescribe ← Latin praescrībō ← Middle English over-
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*úp
  2. Proto-Indo-European*upér
  3. Proto-Germanic*uber
  4. Old Englishofer-
  5. Middle Englishover-
  6. Englishover-
  7. Latinpraescrībō
  8. Englishprescribe
  9. English todayoverprescribe

From over- + prescribe.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.