Etymology

pre-med

Today it means: An undergraduate college academic program, typically in biochemistry or related sciences, that prepares a student to pursue graduate or post-graduate studies in medicine. Full definition →

English med ← French médica ← Medieval Latin medicāli
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*per-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*preh₂-
  3. Proto-Indo-European*préh₂i?
  4. Proto-Italic*prai
  5. Proto-Italic*prai-
  6. Latinprae-
  7. Middle Englishpre-
  8. Englishpre-
  9. Latinmedeor
  10. Latinmedicus
  11. Proto-Indo-European*h₂el-
  12. Proto-Indo-European*h₂élisder.?
  13. Medieval Latinmedicāli
  14. Frenchmédica
  15. Englishmedicalclip.
  16. Englishmed
  17. English todaypre-med

From pre- + med (“medical”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.