Etymology

prepay

P3R1E1P3A1Y4

Today it means: To pay in advance, or beforehand Full definition →

English pay ← Middle English payen ← Old French paiier
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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. Proto-Indo-European*peh₂ḱ-
  10. Proto-Indo-European*péh₂ḱs
  11. Proto-Italic*pāks
  12. Latinpāx
  13. Latinpācō
  14. Old Frenchpaiier
  15. Middle Englishpayen
  16. Englishpay
  17. English todayprepay

From pre- + pay.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.