Etymology

priestress

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Today it means: A priestess. Full definition →

First used 15th c.Middle English preesteresse ← Middle French prestre
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The story

  1. Middle French · derived fromprestresse
  2. Middle French · derived fromprestre
  3. Middle English · inherited frompreesteresse
  4. English todaypriestress

From Middle English preesteresse, from prestre (“priest”; from Middle French prestre) + -esse (“-ess”), and Middle French prestresse; later reinterpreted as priest + -ress.

First known use, by meaning

  • from 15th c. A priestess.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.