prohibit

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English prohibiten,^[2][3][4][5] borrowed from Latin prohibitus, the past participle of prohibeō (“to hold back, hinder, forbid”),^{[5][6][3][4][7][8]} formed from prō- (“in front, forth”) and habeō (“to hold, have”),^{[7][2][9][10]} with the a weakened to i in the compound.^[4][8] The Latin verb is from Proto-Indo-European *ghabh- (“to give or receive”).^[5][2] Barnhart thinks that in some uses the English verb may be a back-formation from prohibition, which is recorded from about 1385.^[6][11] The OED compares Middle French prohiber (“to forbid”) (1436), Spanish prohibir and Italian proibire,^[7] and the same Latin verb gave inhibit and exhibit their forms.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To forbid something by command or law: before 1425, in a translation of Higden's Polychronicon,^[7][6] which also has the now obsolete construction "to forbid a person something".^[7]

Semantic evolution

The sense of preventing or hindering, without a command, appeared in the late 15th and early 16th centuries: to keep a person from an action or place (1483, in Caxton) and to prevent an action or event (1516).^[7] From 1531 to 1707 the verb could also mean to make a person refrain from doing something.^[7] Johnson's Dictionary (1755) gives "to forbid; to interdict by authority" as the first sense.^[12] An adjective prohibit, forbidden, taken from the Latin participle, was used from the 15th century until 1756.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1425 – to forbid by authority; to forbid a person something (obsolete by 1530).^[7][6]
• 1483 – to keep a person from an action or place.^[7]
• 1516 – to prevent, preclude.^[7]
• 1526 – to refuse or deny someone something.^[7]
• 1531 – intransitive, to issue a prohibition.^[7]
• 1755 – in Johnson, "to forbid; to interdict by authority".^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. To forbid by law or by an authority: The club prohibits phones in the dining room.^{[2][13][3][7]}
2. To prevent or preclude: The cost prohibited them from expanding.^{[2][13][3][7]}
3. To bar a person or thing from an action or a place.^[7][14]

Word family

• prohibiter
• prohibitory

Related words

• prohibition
• prohibitive
• inhibit
• exhibit
• habit

Usage notes

The American Heritage Dictionary groups prohibit with forbid, ban, enjoin, interdict and proscribe as verbs meaning "to refuse to allow".^[15] Dictionary.com likewise treats forbid, inhibit, prohibit and taboo as words for a command to refrain from an action.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
12. ^ a b 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 Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
14. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
15. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin