Word origins

• précisA summary or brief: a concise or abridged statement or view.
• precoceprecocious
• predeterminismThe belief that all events that occur have already been determined.
• prehensibleCapable of being seized.
• premier danseurThe lead male dancer in a ballet; compare première danseuse.
• première danseuseThe lead female dancer in a ballet.
• premier jusHigh-quality dripping, the first fraction to melt from the solid fat.
• prenderThe power or right of taking a thing before it is offered
• preposeTo place or set (something) before; to prefix.
• presentoirAn ornamental tray, dish, etc. used as a salver.
• presidentiableA presidential candidate considered to have a good chance of winning an election.
• Presque IsleA city in Aroostook County, Maine, United States.
• Presque Isle CountyOne of 83 counties in Michigan, United States. County seat: Rogers City.
• presque vuA failure to remember something, with the sense that recall is imminent.
• pressiometerA device used to measure the stress in soil under pressure
• prestablepayable
• prestidigitatorOne who performs feats of prestidigitation; a sleight-of-hand artist.
• prêt-à-porterReady-to-wear.
• preux chevalierA valiant knight; any gallant gentleman.
• prevenanceA going before; anticipation in sequence or order.
• preveneTo precede (come before) or anticipate.
• PrévostA surname from French, variant of Prevost
• prevoyantforeseeing; prescient
• priantA kneeling figure, in French sepulchral art.
• prickmadamAny of several species of stonecrop, such as Petrosedum rupestre, formerly used as ingredients of vermifuge medicines.
• prie-dieuA piece of furniture on which someone can pray, consisting of a cushioned area to kneel on, with a built-in ledge for books.
• prime ministerThe chief member of the cabinet and head of the government, especially in a parliamentary democracy; often the leader of the majority party.
• prince charmingA fictional heroic prince in various fairy-tales.
• prince consortThe husband of a queen or an empress, who is not a king or an emperor in his own right, or is accorded this title in a monarchy in which only male monarchs may bear the title "king."
• princesse dressA lady's long, close-fitting dress made with waist and skirt in one.
• Princess RoyalA style customarily (but not automatically) awarded by a British monarch to his or her eldest daughter.
• Principality of MonacoOfficial name of Monaco: a city-state in Western Europe.
• printanierPrepared with spring vegetables.
• prisoner of warA combatant or soldier who is captured by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict.
• prix fixeA menu in which the entire meal is offered at a single fixed price.
• professional deformationA tendency to view things from the point of view of one's own profession or expertise, rather than from a broader or humane perspective.
• profiteroleA small, hollow case of choux pastry with a filling.
• proletaireSynonym of proletarian.
• prolongeA rope with a hook and a toggle, sometimes used to drag a gun carriage or to tie it to the limber, and for various other purposes.
• prononcéStrongly marked; decided, or distinguished, in manners, attire, or appearance.
• prop-Denoting the presence of 3 carbon atoms in the parent chain when forming names of organic compounds.
• propaganda of the deedA politically motivated act of violence, meant to broadcast an ideological message and serve as catalyst to ignite a spirit of socialist revolution among the proletariat against perceived oppressors.
• propensionPropensity.
• propionic acidThe compound with the formula CH₃CH₂COOH, a naturally occurring carboxylic acid with a pungent odor.
• prosateurA writer of French prose.
• prosobranchA gastropod with gills in front of the heart, formerly thought to belong to a single group, Prosobranchia.
• protégéA person who is guided and supported by an older and more experienced person (a protector or mentor).
• protégéeA female protégé.
• protogineA form of granite containing silvery flakes of talc or similar minerals.
• ProustianOf, pertaining to, or reminiscent of Marcel Proust (1871–1922), French novelist, or his works.
• provocatriceA female provocateur.
• prud'hommeAn honorable, upstanding man.
• prunelleA kind of small and very acid French plum, especially when stoned and dried, from Prunus spinosa.
• prunelloA species of dried plum; a prunelle.
• psalmographyThe act or practice of writing psalms.
• psychodyslepticThat brings on a dreamlike mental state; hallucinogenic.
• psychotronicsA field of military technology dealing with electronic weapons or devices used to either degrade or enhance human health by directed energy.
• pterionThe point corresponding with the posterior end of the sphenoparietal suture; known as the weakest part of the skull.
• pterygopalatineOf or pertaining to the pterygoid process of the sphenoid bone and the palatine bone.
• ptilocerqueSynonym of pen-tailed treeshrew.
• ptomaineAny of various amines formed by putrefactive bacteria.
• puceronAny of a number of plant live, or aphids.
• pudding chomeurA type of pudding originating from Montreal, Quebec, Canada during the Great Depression. A dessert made by covering cake batter or stale bread with maple syrup, which then settles to the bottom after baking.
• pudeurA sense of modesty, shame, or reserve, especially as relating to sexual matters.
• pudicEasily ashamed, having a strong sense of shame; modest, chaste.
• puericultureThe rearing of young children, conceived of as an art or science.
• puitA well; a small stream; a fountain; a spring.
• pull someone's chestnuts out of the fireSynonym of pull someone's bacon out of the fire (“rescue someone, especially at the last moment”).
• pulpatoonA fruit or meat pie with the crust made of forcemeat.
• puneseA bedbug.
• puntyA metal rod used in the glassblowing process. After a glass vessel has been blown to approximate size and the bottom of the piece has been finalized, the rod, which is tipped with a wad of hot glass, is attached to the bottom of the vessel to hold it while the top is finalized. It often leaves an irregular or ring-shaped scar on the base when removed, called the pontil mark.
• pupeA pupa.
• pure laineOf or pertaining to francophone Quebecers of "pure" French ancestry, descended from settlers in New France.
• pur et durBeing a hardliner of the Quebec independence movement.
• purismAn insistence on pure or unmixed forms.
• purprepurple
• pur sangBeyond doubt or being a model example; the ne plus ultra or epitome; the definitive.
• putanismprostitution; harlotry.
• putoisA brush of polecat's hair for painting ceramics.
• putridityThe state of being putrid.
• putrilageSomething undergoing, or having undergone putrefaction.
• Pyrénées-OrientalesA department in Occitania, France. Capital: Perpignan.
• pyrogravurepyrography
• quadrille paperPaper marked out with squares.
• quadrilliardA thousand million million million million: 1 followed by twenty-seven zeros, 10²⁷.
• quadrimesterA period of four months or about four months.
• quadrumaneHaving four limbs with hand-like extremities and opposable digits; quadrumanous; loosely, "ape-like".
• quatorzainA poem or stanza consisting of fourteen lines.
• quatre quartFrench pound cake
• QuebecismThe quality of belonging to or being characteristic of Quebec.
• QuebedeauxA surname from French.
• quelle surpriseWhat a surprise.
• QuelozA surname from French.
• QuemenesAn island of Molene Archipelago, Finistère department, Brittany, France.
• quenelleA light dumpling made of lightly spiced minced meat or fish bound with egg and poached.
• quenouilleThe distaff- or cone-like shape of a tree that has been subjected to quenouille training.
• quenouille trainingA method of training trees or shrubs in the shape of a cone or distaff by tying down the branches and pruning.
• questionaryA questionnaire.
• quetschA dark-skinned variety of plum.
• quiche lorraineA type of quiche, originally from the area of Lorraine in France, made with cheese and bacon.