Etymology

precise

pre·cise
P3R1E1C3I1S1E1

Today it means: Both exact and accurate. Full definition →

Middle French précis ← Latin praecīsus ← Proto-Italic *kaidō
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

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. Proto-Indo-European*kh₂eyd-
  8. Proto-Indo-European*kh₂éydeti
  9. Proto-Italic*kaidō
  10. Latincaedō
  11. Latinpraecīdō
  12. Latinpraecīsus
  13. Middle Frenchprécis
  14. English todayprecise

From Middle French précis, from Latin praecīsus, perfect passive participle of praecīdere, from prae- (“before, in front”) + caedere (“cut; strike”), cognate with hit. Related to incise. Doublet of précis.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.