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preface [preface 词源字典]: preface: [14] Preface is a misleading sort of word. It has no connection with face. It comes ultimately from Latin praefātiō, a derivative of praefārī ‘say beforehand’. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix prae- ‘before’ and fārī ‘speak’ (source of English fable, fate, etc). So etymologically, preface is virtually the equivalent of the native formation foreword.
=> fable, fame, fate[preface etymology, preface origin, 英语词源]
prefer: prefer: [14] To prefer one thing is etymologically to ‘carry it before’ others. The word comes via Old French preferer from Latin praeferre ‘set before’, a compound verb formed from the prefix prae- ‘before’ and ferre ‘carry’ (source of English fertile and related to bear).
=> bear
prefix: prefix: see fix
pregnant: pregnant: [16] Latin praegnās ‘pregnant’ probably originated as a compound formed from prae ‘before’ and gnascī or nascī ‘be born’ (source of English nation, native, etc). It was altered to praegnāns, bringing it in line with present participial adjectives ending in -āns, and was borrowed into English in its stem form as pregnant. From it was derived the verb impregnāre, from which English gets impregnate [16], but English impregnable is quite unrelated, despite its similarity – it comes from Latin prehendere ‘seize’ (source also of English apprehend, comprehend, etc).
=> impregnate, nation, native, nature
prehensile: prehensile: see prey
premier: premier: see prime
premise: premise: [14] Premise comes via Old French premisse from medieval Latin praemissa, a noun use of the past participle of Latin praemittere ‘send ahead’. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix prae- ‘before’ and mittere ‘send’ (source of English admit, commit, mission, transmit, etc). It first entered English as a technical term in logic, in which its underlying meaning is of a proposition ‘set before’ someone.

But it was also used in the plural as a legal term, meaning ‘matters stated previously’. In a conveyance or will, such ‘matters’ were often houses or other buildings referred to specifically at the beginning of the document, and so the term premises came to denote such buildings.
=> admit, commit, mission, permit, submit, transmit
premonition: premonition: see monster
prepare: prepare: [15] Latin parāre ‘make ready’ lies behind a wide range of English words, from apparatus and apparel to emperor and separate. It combined with the prefix prae- ‘before’ to produce praeparāre ‘make ready in advance’, adopted into English via Old French preparer.
=> apparatus, apparel, emperor, separate
preponderate: preponderate: see ponder
preposterous: preposterous: [16] Preposterous originated as a Latin oxymoron, praeposterus. This was coined from prae ‘before’ and posterus ‘coming after, next’, a derivative of post ‘after’. It denoted ‘the wrong way round, out of order’ (and indeed that was how English preposterous was once used: ‘The preposterous is a pardonable fault … We call it by a common saying to set the cart before the horse’, George Puttenham, Art of English Poesie 1589). But already in Latin the notion had developed via ‘irrational’ to ‘absurd’, a sense quickly taken up by English.
prerogative: prerogative: [14] Latin praerogāre meant ‘ask before others’ (it was a compound verb formed from the prefix prae- ‘before’ and rogāre ‘ask’, source also of English interrogate [15]). The term praerogātīva (based on its past participle) was applied to those electoral groups who were ‘invited before others’ to vote, or in other words had the privilege of voting first, in elections for state officials. Hence the word (acquired by English via Old French prerogative) came to mean in general ‘right to precedence, privilege’.
=> arrogant, interrogate
presage: presage: see seek
presbyterian: presbyterian: see priest
present: present: [13] The Latin adjective praesēns ‘at hand, now here’ originated as the present participle of praeesse ‘be before one’, a compound verb formed from the prefix prae- ‘in front’ and esse ‘be’. English acquired it via Old French present, the same route as was taken by its derivative praesentia on its way to English presence [14]. The use of the related noun present for ‘gift’ originated in Old French in the concept of ‘bringing something into someone’s presence’, and hence of giving it to them. The verb present [13] comes from the Latin derivative praesentāre.
preserve: preserve: [14] The -serve of preserve comes from Latin servāre ‘keep safe’ (no relation to servīre ‘serve’, but source also of English conserve, observe, and reserve). Combination with prae- ‘before’ produced medieval Latin praeservāre ‘guard beforehand, take steps to ward off possible harm’, which reached English via Old French preserver.
=> conserve, observe, reserve
president: president: [14] A president is etymologically simply someone who ‘presides’. The word comes via Old French president from Latin praesidēns, the present participle of praesidēre ‘superintend’ (it literally meant ‘sit in front of’ – it was formed from the prefix prae- ‘before’ and sedēre ‘sit’ – and it has given English preside [17]). Another Latin derivative was the noun praesidium ‘garrison, fortification’, which English has acquired via Russian prezídium as presidium [20].
=> preside, presidium, sit
press: press: English has two words press. The commoner, and older, ‘exert force, push’ [14], comes via Old French presser from Latin pressāre, a verb derived from the past participle of premere ‘press’ (source of English print). The corresponding noun press (which actually arrived in English a century earlier in the now archaic sense ‘crowd’) originated as a derivative of the Old French verb.

Derived verbs in English include compress [14], depress [14], express, impress [14], oppress [14], repress [14], and suppress [14]. The other press, ‘force’ [16], is now found virtually only in the expression ‘press into service’ and in the compound press-gang [17]. It originally denoted ‘compel to join the navy, army, etc’, and was an alteration, under the influence of press ‘exert force’, of prest ‘pay recruits’.

This was a verbal use of Middle English prest ‘money given to recruits’, which was borrowed from Old French prest ‘loan’. This in turn was a derivative of the verb prester ‘lend’, which went back to Latin praestāre ‘provide’, a compound formed from the prefix prae- ‘before’ and stāre ‘stand’. Related to praestāre was Latin praestō ‘at hand’, from which have evolved French prêt ‘ready’ and Italian and Spanish presto ‘quick’ (English borrowed the Italian version as presto [16]).
=> compress, depress, express, impress, oppress, print, repress, suppress; presto, station
prestige: prestige: [17] As opponents of semantic change are fond of pointing out, prestige once meant ‘trick, illusion’, and its use until the 19th century was usually derogatory. It comes via French prestige from Latin praestigiae ‘illusions produced by a conjurer or juggler’, an alteration of an unrecorded *praestrigiae. This would have been a derivative of praestringere ‘blindfold’, hence ‘confuse the sight, dazzle’, a compound verb formed from the prefix prae- ‘before’ and stringere ‘bind’ (source of English strict). The modern approbatory meaning appears to have been reintroduced from French.
=> strict
presto: presto: see press