prehistory
English · Thesaurus
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prehistory
Where it comes from
From pre- (“before”) + history, first attested in the Foreign Quarterly Review in 1836, after the model of prehistoric, from French préhistorique.
noun prehistories · pre-history
-
The time before written records in any area of the world; the events and conditions of those times.
Along the way, elders of the Delaware, Lushootseed, Tsimshian, Colville, and Creek tribes have provided a comparative perspective on the long time frame of Keresan prehistory and culture.
Similar: prehistoric age
- The study of those times.
- Any past time (even recent) treated as such a distant, unknowable era. I was a town boy through and through. The country belonged to a vague pre-history.
- The history leading up to some event, condition, etc. Psychologists... are mostly bad historians, inventing—as Freud has done—their pre-history to suit their theories.
Opposite: posthistory
Thesaurus
noun
Opposite: posthistory
Translations
Every language
noun era before written records
| 한국어 | 선사 시대 seonsa sidae |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | 先史時代 senshi jidai |
| 中文 | 史前 shǐqián, 史前時代 /史前时代 shǐqián shídài |
| हिन्दी | प्रागितिहास prāgitihās |
| Português | pré-história |
| Français | préhistoire |
| Deutsch | Vorzeit, Urgeschichte |
| Italiano | preistoria |
| Română | preistorie |
| Русский | доистори́ческий пери́од doistoríčeskij períod, праисто́рия praistórija, преисто́рия preistórija, доисто́рия doistórija |
| Tiếng Việt | tiền sử |
| العربية | عَصْر مَا قَبْلَ التَّارِيخ ʕaṣr mā qabla t-tārīḵ |
| עברית | פרהיסטוריה |
noun study of events and conditions before written records
| Español | prehistoria |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 선사학 seonsahak |
| 日本語 | 先史学 senshigaku |
| 中文 | 史前史 shǐqiánshǐ |
| Português | pré-história |
| Français | préhistoire |
| Deutsch | Vorgeschichte, Urgeschichte |
| Italiano | preistoria |
| Русский | праисто́рия praistórija, преисто́рия preistórija, доисто́рия doistórija |
| Tiếng Việt | thời tiền sử |
noun history of events leaving up to something
| 한국어 | 전사 jeonsa |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | 前史 zenshi |
| 中文 | 發展背景 /发展背景 fāzhǎn bèijǐng |
| Français | préhistoire |
| Deutsch | Vorgeschichte |
| Русский | предысто́рия predystórija |
Talk about this word "prehistory." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/prehistory. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. prehistory. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/prehistory "prehistory." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/prehistory.Cite this
@misc{prehistory_2026,
title = {prehistory},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/prehistory},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
