prelinguistic

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adjective

Preceding the use of true language

OriginEnglish linguistic ← Middle English pre- ← Latin prae- →
Scrabble 18
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Meanings

adjectiveprelinguistic (not comparable)
  1. not comparablePreceding the use of true language

    Look, you know, a grunted uh, I mean — which is what I use to fill up a silence to show I'm conscious while I'm groping for a word — is, like, prelinguistic language.

    2009 January 11, William Safire, “Haircut”, in New York Times
    1 more example

    Video a prelinguistic child with its mother. Show the recording to the mother and ask her which of the baby's noises and gestures she believes are intentional communication.

    2013, Alison Wray, Aileen Bloomer, Projects in Linguistics and Language Studies, Third Edition, page 35

Origin

  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. Englishlinguistic
  10. Englishprelinguistic

From pre- + linguistic.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

prelinguistic. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/prelinguistic

MLA

“prelinguistic.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/prelinguistic. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “prelinguistic,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/prelinguistic.

Source: prelinguistic on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.