prefecture

Etymology

It is borrowed from Anglo-Norman prefecture and Middle French prefecture,^[2][3] and directly borrowed from Latin praefectūra (“the office or district of a prefect”),^{[2][4][3][5][6]} from praefectus (“overseer, prefect”) and the suffix -ūra, the source of -ure.^[2][5][7] Etymonline also allows that the English word was put together from prefect and -ure.^[4] The Anglo-Norman noun is recorded from about 1334, for the office of a governor in ancient Rome.^[8] Etymonline dates the Old French word to the 13th century,^[4] while the OED dates the French sense "authority of a prefect in ancient Rome" to the 14th.^[2] The Latin praefectus is the noun use of the past participle of praeficiō (“to put in front, set in authority over”),^[4][9] from prae (“in front, before”) and faciō (“to make, do”).^[4][9] The same Latin noun gave prefectura, prefectura, prefeitura and prefettura.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The office or position of a prefect, or the period for which it is held: probably before 1439, in John Lydgate's Fall of Princes.^[2] Etymonline dates the word to the mid-15th century,^[4] and Merriam-Webster to the 15th century.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word first named the office, then from 1602 the district a prefect governed.^[2][3] In French it came to mean an administrative district of France and also its chief town or headquarters around 1800,^[2] and English used it from 1802 for the official residence of a French prefect.^[2][10] From 1855 it was also the English term for an administrative division of a Chinese province, and later for a corresponding district in Japan;^[2] Etymonline dates the Chinese use to 1885.^[4] Johnson (1755) defined it simply as "command; office of government".^[11]

Timeline

• before 1439 – the office or position of a prefect.^[2]
• 1602 – a district governed by a prefect.^[2]
• 1802 – the official residence of a French prefect.^[2]
• 1855 – an administrative district of a province in China; also one in Japan.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The office, authority or term of office of a prefect.^[5][10][2]
2. The district governed by a prefect, as in the Roman Empire or in France; especially one of the main administrative divisions of Japan: She moved to a small town in Nagano prefecture.^[5][3][2]
3. The official residence or headquarters of a prefect, as in France or Italy.^[10][5][2]

Word family

• prefectural
• subprefecture

Related words

• prefect
• perfect
• affect
• effect
• fact

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.