Etymologically
Log in

prairie

Etymology and origin of the English word prairie

History Permalink

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈpɹɛə.ɹi/ (UK); /ˈpɹɛɹi/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French prairie (“meadow”),[2][3][4][5][6] from Old French praerie,[2][3][4][5] from Vulgar Latin *prātāria,[3][4][5][6] from Latin prātum (“meadow”).[2][3][4][5][6] Middle English had borrowed the Old French word as praer, prayere “meadow”, but it died out, and the modern word is a reborrowing.[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A tract of treeless grassland, as in North America (before 1682 in the OED; 1691 in prairie chicken, Barnhart).[7][3][5]

Semantic evolution

The word was reborrowed from French explorers such as Hennepin to describe the fertile but treeless plains of America,[4] and was established in English by the 18th century (1734 in Barnhart; by 1773 in Etymonline).[3][4] Compounds include prairie dog (1774), named for its barking cry, and prairie schooner (1841), a covered wagon of emigrants.[4] Illinois has been called the Prairie State since at least 1861.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 1300 – Middle English praer, meadow (later lost).[3]
  • before 1682 – a treeless grassland.[7][5]
  • 1691 – prairie chicken.[3]
  • 1774 – prairie dog.[4]
  • 1841 – prairie schooner.[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. An extensive area of flat or rolling, mostly treeless grassland, especially the great plain of central North America.
  2. Any tract of grassland; a meadow.

Word family

  • prairie oyster
  • Prairie Provinces
  • prairie schooner
  • prairillon
  • prairie dog
  • steppe
  • savanna
  • pampas

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  7. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Prairie.” Etymologically, 11 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/prairie. Accessed 11 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·