Etymologically
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prescribe

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Pronunciation

  • /pɹəˈskɹaɪb/, /pɝˈskɹaɪb/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English prescriben,[2][3][1][4] borrowed from Latin praescrībō (“to write before, put in writing in front; to order, direct”),[5][2][3][4] formed from prae- (“before”) and scrībō (“to write”),[5][4][6][7] which Etymonline and the American Heritage Dictionary trace to Proto-Indo-European *skribh- (“to cut”).[3][4] In post-classical Latin the verb had also come to mean to limit (in Tertullian), to claim by lapse of time (13th century) and to order the use of a medicine (1528).[5] Merriam-Webster derives the legal sense, to hold by right of prescription, from prescribere in Medieval Latin,[8] and the OED takes the legal uses largely from prescription, comparing prescriver in Law French.[5] Weekley notes that it replaced an earlier prescrive, from Old French prescrire.[9] It is related to scribe and describe.[5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To lay down rules or laws, to dictate or direct: 1445, in the records of St Bartholomew's Priory.[5] Etymonline glosses the mid-15th-century verb as "to write down as a direction, law, or rule".[3] The Oxford Dictionary of English gives "confine within bounds" and the legal "claim by prescription" as its first senses.[10]

Semantic evolution

From the start the verb was used both of laying down rules (1445) and, in law, of holding or claiming a right by prescription, long use (1455).[5][6] From about 1487 it was transitive, to lay down something as a rule to be followed.[5] The medical sense, to order the use of a remedy, is first recorded in 1533 in the revised OED,[5] whereas Barnhart and Etymonline date it to 1581 and take it as probably a back-formation from prescription, which had the meaning of a doctor's written direction from 1579.[2][3] Johnson (1755) gave two senses: to set down with authority, and to direct medically.[11] In Scots law the verb still means, of an action or claim, to lapse through the passage of time (from 1617).[5][6] In linguistics the sense of laying down rules gave the contrast between dictionaries that describe and those that prescribe, quoted by the Shorter Oxford from American Speech.[6]

Timeline

  • 1445 – to lay down rules, to direct.[5][2]
  • 1455 – to hold by prescription (obsolete).[5]
  • c. 1485 – to limit, confine within bounds.[5]
  • c. 1487 – to lay down as a rule to be followed.[5]
  • 1528 – to assert a prescriptive right or claim.[5]
  • 1533 – to order the use of a medicine or remedy (1581 in Barnhart and Etymonline).[5][2][3]
  • 1617 – Scots law, of an action, to lapse with time.[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To lay down as a rule or direction to be followed; to dictate or ordain: The regulations prescribe the width of every doorway.[12][8][5]
  2. To advise or order the use of a medicine or treatment, especially in a written prescription: The vet prescribed painkillers for the dog.[12][8][5]
  3. To give advice as a doctor does; to write prescriptions: He prescribes for half the village.[8][5]
  4. (law) To claim or acquire a right or title by prescription.[12][8][5]
  5. (law) To become invalid or unenforceable through lapse of time.[12][8][6]
  6. To limit or confine within bounds (rare).[5][6]

Word family

  • prescriber
  • prescribable
  • misprescribe
  • overprescribe
  • represcribe

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  9. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  12. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins