prairie English · revision 955
11 Oct 2026, 03:21 by bogdan “New entry from the dictionary sources (AHD, Barnhart, Etymonline, MW, OED, RHWU, Wiktionary)” current version
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+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA: /ˈpɹɛə.ɹi/ ''(UK)''; /ˈpɹɛɹi/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is [[bor|fr|prairie|t=meadow]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) from Old French ''praerie'',^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate) [[der|la-vul|*prātāria]],^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) from [[la|prātum|t=meadow]].^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) Middle English had borrowed the Old French word as ''praer'', ''prayere'' “meadow”, but it died out, and the modern word is a reborrowing.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ A tract of treeless grassland, as in North America (before 1682 in the OED; 1691 in ''prairie chicken'', Barnhart).^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(MW Collegiate)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ The word was reborrowed from French explorers such as Hennepin to describe the fertile but treeless plains of America,^(Etymonline) and was established in English by the 18th century (1734 in Barnhart; by 1773 in Etymonline).^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) Compounds include ''prairie dog'' (1774), named for its barking cry, and ''prairie schooner'' (1841), a covered wagon of emigrants.^(Etymonline) Illinois has been called the Prairie State since at least 1861.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * c. 1300 – Middle English ''praer'', meadow (later lost).^(Barnhart 1995)
+ * before 1682 – a treeless grassland.^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate)
+ * 1691 – ''prairie chicken''.^(Barnhart 1995)
+ * 1774 – ''prairie dog''.^(Etymonline)
+ * 1841 – ''prairie schooner''.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Modern meaning==
+ ===Noun===
+ # An extensive area of flat or rolling, mostly treeless [[grassland]], especially the great plain of central North America.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)
+ # Any tract of grassland; a [[meadow]].^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)
+
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[prairie oyster]]
+ * [[Prairie Provinces]]
+ * [[prairie schooner]]
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[prairillon]]
+ * [[prairie dog]]
+ * [[steppe]]
+ * [[savanna]]
+ * [[pampas]]
+
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}