prior
pronunciation
How to pronounce prior in British English:
UK [ˈpraɪə(r)]
How to pronounce prior in American English:
US [ˈpraɪər]
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- Noun:
- the head of a religious order; in an abbey the prior is next below the abbot
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- Adjective:
- earlier in time
Word Origin
- prior
- prior: Prior the ecclesiastical rank [11] and prior ‘previous’ [18] are ultimately the same word. Both go back to Latin prior ‘former, superior’, a comparative formation based on the Old Latin preposition pri ‘before’. This came in postclassical times to be used as a noun meaning ‘superior officer, administrator’, and it was taken over as such into the terminology of the monastic foundations.
- prior (adj.)
- "earlier," 1714, from Latin prior "former, previous, first;" figuratively "superior, better;" as a noun "forefather; superior rank;" comparative of Old Latin pri "before," from PIE *prai-, *prei-, from root *per- (1) "forward, through" (see per).
- prior (n.)
- "superior officer of a religious house or order," late Old English, from Medieval Latin prior "superior officer," noun use of Latin adjective meaning "former, superior" (see prior (adj.)). As short for prior arrest, by 1990, American English.