Etymologically
Log in

prepare

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 23:54. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /prɪˈpeə/, US /prɪˈper/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English preparen,[2][3] borrowed from Middle French préparer (14th century),[4][2][3] and directly from Latin praeparāre (“to make ready beforehand”),[4][2][5] from prae “before” and parāre “to make ready”,[4][2] from Proto-Indo-European *pere- (“to produce, procure”).[4] Etymonline takes it in part as a back-formation from preparation (about 1390).[4][2] It replaced the earlier preparaten, preperaten (1392, about 1395), from the Latin past participle praeparātus.[2][4] It is related to pare and apparatus.[4][2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

To make ready beforehand, to set in order for an end: 1466 in the OED and Barnhart,[7][2] the mid-15th century in Etymonline.[4]

Semantic evolution

To make food ready to eat is from the late 15th century, in Caxton.[4] To get oneself ready is from about 1500 (1509 in the OED),[4][7] and to bring into a state of mental readiness from the 1520s (1526).[4][7] Be prepared, to be ready, is from 1579,[7] and as the Boy Scouts' motto from 1911, based, as Baden-Powell said, on his own initials.[4] To get a speech or lesson ready by study is from 1683,[7] and to train a person for an examination from 1891.[7] The noun prepare, preparation, from 1535, is obsolete or dialectal.[7] Preparatory is from 1413.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1390 – preparation.[2]
  • 1466 – to make ready.[7][2]
  • late 15th century – to prepare food.[4]
  • 1509 – to get ready.[7]
  • 1526 – to prepare mentally.[7]
  • 1683 – to prepare a speech by study.[7]
  • 1911 – Be Prepared.[4]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To make ready beforehand for a purpose or event.
  2. To make or put together, as food or a medicine.
  3. To make oneself or someone ready, mentally or by training.
  4. (music) To lead up to and soften a dissonance.
  5. be prepared to: to be willing to.

Word family

  • preparedly
  • preparer
  • reprepare
  • preparation
  • preparatory
  • pare
  • apparatus
  • repair

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press