presto

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian presto (“quick, quickly”),^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} from Late Latin praestus (“ready”),^{[8][4][5][9][10][7]} from the adverb praestō (“at hand, ready, available”).^{[2][8][4][6][7]} English took the musical uses from Italian again in the 17th century.^[2][3][5] The further origin of the Latin adverb is unclear.^[3][6][4] Etymonline and Klein form it from prae (“before”) and stō (“to stand”);^[3][9] Merriam-Webster Unabridged takes the second part as perhaps related to situs;^[6] Barnhart explains it as a contraction of a pre-Latin phrase meaning "at hand", with a word for "hand" from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰes- (“hand”), the root to which the American Heritage Dictionary also refers it.^[4][8] The Latin phrase praestō esse (“to be at hand, be ready”) is also the source of French prêt (“ready”).^[3][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Quickly, at once, in commands used by conjurors: 1598, in George Chapman's The Blind Beggar of Alexandria.^[2] Barnhart dates the word to 1598–99, in Ben Jonson,^[4] and Etymonline to the 1590s.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Italian presto meant "soon" from the 13th century and "quickly" from 1353, and was a musical direction by 1555.^[2] English took it first as a word of conjurors' patter,^[3][11][5] and Johnson (1755) still described it as a word used by those who show legerdemain, quoting Swift's "Presto! begone!".^[12] The plain sense "quickly, at once" died out in the 19th century (last recorded 1879), but the cry of presto became a noun about 1640, and since 1822, in Byron, it has been an exclamation announcing the climax of a trick or a sudden change, now often in hey presto.^[2] Its use as noun and interjection has no parallel in Italian.^[2] The musical borrowing, a direction to play quickly, is first recorded in 1680,^[2] in Purcell according to Etymonline;^[3] the adjective of fast tempo followed about 1790, and the noun for a fast movement in 1842,^[2] although Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates the noun to 1801.^[6] In 1831 the word was also made into a verb meaning to conjure something away or transform it as if by magic.^[2]

Timeline

• 1598 – quickly, at once, in conjurors' commands (obsolete by 1879).^[2]
• c. 1640 – noun, a cry of presto!.^[2]
• 1644 – adjective, ready, at hand (obsolete); later, rapid, as if by magic.^[2]
• 1680 – in music, as a direction: quickly, in a fast tempo.^[2][3]
• c. 1790 – adjective, in music, played in a fast tempo.^[2]
• 1822 – interjection announcing the climax of a conjuring trick or a sudden change.^[2]
• 1831 – verb, to convey or transform as if by magic.^[2]
• 1842 – noun, a movement or passage in fast tempo.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates this sense to 1801.^[6]

Meanings

Adverb

1. (music) At a very fast tempo, as a direction to the player.^[6][13][2]
2. Quickly; immediately or suddenly, as if by magic.^[13][6]

Interjection

1. Said by a conjuror at the climax of a trick, or to announce a sudden change, often as hey presto: He waved the scarf and, presto, the coin had gone.^[13][2][6]

Adjective

1. (music) Played at a fast tempo.^[13][2]
2. Quick and sudden, like a magical transformation.^[2]

Noun

1. (music) A movement or passage played at a fast tempo.^[13][6][2]

Verb

1. To make something disappear or change as if by magic.^[2]

Word family

• hey presto
• presto chango

Related words

• prestissimo
• prestidigitator

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 r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins