prudence

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*weyd-“to see; to know”
2. Latin · derived fromprūdentia“common sense; discretion, prudence; foresight; knowledge; providence; skilfulness; wisdom”
3. Old French · derived fromprudence“common sense; wisdom”
4. Middle French · derived fromprudence
5. Anglo-Norman · derived fromprudence
6. Middle English · inherited fromprudence“discretion; foresight; knowledge; intelligence, wisdom; act of good judgment; wisdom to see what is virtuous”
7. English todayprudence

From Middle English prudence (“discretion; foresight; knowledge; intelligence, wisdom; act of good judgment; wisdom to see what is virtuous”), from Anglo-Norman prudence, Middle French prudence, and Old French prudence (“common sense; wisdom”) (modern French prudence), and from their etymon Latin prūdentia (“common sense; discretion, prudence; foresight; knowledge; providence; skilfulness; wisdom”), from prūdent- (the stem of prūdēns (“knowledgeable, skilful; wise, prudent”)) + -ia (suffix forming first-declension feminine abstract nouns). Prūdēns is a contraction of prōvidēns (“caring for; foreseeing; providing”) (whence prōvidentia (“foreknowledge, foresight; forethought, precaution, providence”)), the present active participle of prōvideō (“to care for, look after; to foresee; to provide, see to”), from prō- (prefix meaning ‘forward; prior’) + videō (“to perceive, see; to comprehend, understand; to look out for, care for”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to see; to know”)). Doublet of provide and purvey.

Words from the same roots