The story
- Latin · derived frompraeiacens“situated before”
- Middle French · borrowed fromprejacent“previously existing”
- English todayprejacent
Multiple origins. Borrowed from Middle French prejacent (“previously existing”) during the sixteenth century. Also attested in twelfth century British sources, from post-classical Latin praeiacens (“situated before”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.