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prize [prize 词源字典]: prize: English has four words prize. The one meaning ‘reward’ [16] is essentially the same word as price. This was originally pris, mirroring its immediate Old French ancestor pris. It became prise, to indicate the length of its vowel i, and in the 16th century this differentiated into price for ‘amount to pay’ and prize for ‘reward’. (Modern French prix has given English grand prix [19], literally ‘great prize’, first used for a ‘car race’ in 1908.) Prize ‘esteem’ [14] was based on pris-, the stem of Old French preisier ‘praise’ (source of English praise). Prize ‘something captured in war’ [14] comes via Old French prise ‘capture, seizure, booty’ from Vulgar Latin *prēsa or *prēnsa ‘something seized’.

This was a noun use of the past participle of *prēndere ‘seize’, a contraction of classical Latin praehendere (from which English gets prehensile, prison, etc). Another sense of Old French prise was ‘grasp’. English borrowed this in the 14th century as prize ‘lever’, which in due course was turned into modern English’s fourth prize, the verb prize, or prise, ‘lever’ [17]. Pry ‘lever’ [19] is an alteration of prize, based on the misapprehension that it is a third-person singular present form (*pries).
=> grand prix, price; praise; comprehensive, prison, reprehensible; pry[prize etymology, prize origin, 英语词源]
probable: probable: [14] Latin probāre meant ‘test, approve, prove’ (it is the source of English probate [15], probation [15], probe [16], and prove). From it was derived the adjective probābilis ‘provable’, hence ‘likely’. It passed into English via Old French probable.
=> probate, probation, probe, prove, reprobate
probity: probity: see prove
problem: problem: [14] A problem is etymologically something ‘thrown forward’. The word comes via Old French probleme and Latin problēma from Greek próblēma, a derivative of probállein ‘throw forward’. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix pro- ‘forward’ and bállein ‘throw’ (source of English ballistic, emblem, parable, etc). Things that are ‘thrown out’ project and can get in the way and hinder one, and so próblēma came to be used for an ‘obstacle’ or ‘problem’ – senses carried through into English problem.
=> ballistic, emblem, parable, symbol
proboscis: proboscis: [17] The elephant’s trunk was originally called proboscis because it is used for getting food – by pulling down leafy branches, for instance. The word comes via Latin from Greek proboskís, a compound formed from pró ‘in front’ and bóskein ‘feed’.
process: process: [14] Latin prōcēdere meant ‘go forward’: it was a compound verb formed from the prefix prō- ‘forward’ and cēdere ‘go’ (source of English cede, concede, etc), and has given English proceed [14] and procedure [17]. Its past participle prōcessus was used as a noun meaning ‘advance, progress, lapse of time’. This passed via Old French proces into English, where the notion of something ‘advancing during a period of time’ led in the 17th century to the word’s main modern sense ‘set of operations for doing something’. Procession [12] comes from the Latin derivative prōcessiō.
=> accede, cede, concede, exceed, precede, proceed, procession
procrastinate: procrastinate: [16] Crās was Latin for ‘tomorrow’ (its antecedents are uncertain). The adjective derived from it was crāstinus ‘of tomorrow’, which in turn formed the basis of a verb prōcrāstināre ‘put forward to tomorrow’ (prō- denotes ‘forward’). By the time it reached English it had broadened out to simply ‘delay’.
procure: procure: [13] The -cure of procure goes back to Latin cūrāre ‘look after’, source of English cure. Combination with prō- ‘for’ produced prōcūrāre ‘look after on behalf of someone else, manage’, which English acquired via Old French procurer as procure. The main modern sense ‘obtain’ developed via ‘take care, take pains’ and ‘bring about by taking pains’. The agent noun derived from the Latin verb was prōcūrātor ‘manager, agent’; English adopted this as procurator [13], and subsequently contracted it to proctor [14]. A similar process of contraction lies behind proxy, which goes back to Latin prōcūrātiō.
=> cure, proctor, proxy
produce: produce: [15] To produce something is etymologically to ‘lead it forward’, a meaning still discernible beneath the veil of metaphor that clothes the modern English word’s range of meanings. It comes from Latin prōdūcere, a compound verb formed from the prefix prō- ‘forward’ and dūcere ‘lead’ (source of English duct, duke, educate, introduce, etc).
=> duct, duke, educate, induce, introduce
profane: profane: [15] Anything that is profane is etymologically ‘outside the temple’ – hence, ‘secular’ or ‘irreligious’. The word comes via Old French prophane from Latin profānus, a compound adjective formed from the prefix prō- ‘before’ (used here in the sense ‘outside’) and fānum ‘temple’ (source of archaic English fane [14]).
=> fane
profess: profess: [14] Profess comes from prōfessus, the past participle of Latin prōfitērī ‘declare publicly’. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix prō- ‘forth, in public’ and fatērī ‘acknowledge, confess’ (a relative of English fable, fame, and fate and source also of confess). A professor [14] is etymologically someone who ‘makes a public claim’ to knowledge in a particular field; and someone’s profession [13] is the area of activity in which they ‘profess’ a skill or competence.
=> confess, fable, fame, fate
proficient: proficient: see profit
profile: profile: [17] The -file of profile is etymologically a ‘thread’. The word comes from early modern Italian profilo, a derivative of profilare ‘draw in outline’. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix pro- ‘forward’ and filare, which used to mean ‘draw a line’; and this in turn went back to Latin filāre ‘spin’, a derivative of filum ‘thread’ (from which English gets file for storing things in).
=> file
profit: profit: [14] Like proficient, profit goes back to Latin prōficere ‘advance, be advantageous’. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix prō- ‘forward’ and facere ‘do, make’ (source of English fact, fashion, feat, etc). Its past participle prōfectus was used as a noun meaning ‘progress, success, profit’, and this passed into English via Old French profit. The Latin present participle prōficiēns ‘making progress’ is the source of English proficient [16], which took its meaning on via ‘making progress in learning’ to ‘adept’.
=> fact, fashion, feat, proficient
profligate: profligate: [16] Something that is profligate has etymologically been ‘beaten down’ to a state of ruination or degradation. The word was adapted from Latin prōflīgātus ‘destroyed, dissolute’, an adjective based on the past participle of prōflīgāre ‘beat down, destroy’. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix prō- ‘forward’ (used here in the sense ‘down’) and flīgere ‘hit’ (source also of English afflict, conflict [15], and inflict [16]).
=> afflict, conflict, inflict
progress: progress: [15] Progress is one of a large family of English words (including also grade, gradual, transgress, etc) that go back to Latin gradus ‘step’. From it was derived the verb gradī ‘go, step’, which in combination with the prefix prō- ‘forward’ produced prōgredī ‘go forward’. English gets progress from its past participle prōgressus.
=> grade, gradual, ingredient, regress, transgress
proletarian: proletarian: [17] A Roman citizen of the lowest class was termed a prōlētārius. The only service he was capable of performing for the state was that of producing children, to maintain its population level, and it was this function that gave the prōlētārius his name. For it was derived from prōlēs ‘offspring’, a word based on the same source (*ol- ‘nourish’) as produced English adolescent, alimony, etc.

The abbreviation prole dates back to the late 19th century (George Bernard Shaw is the first writer on record as using it), but it was George Orwell in the 1930s who firmly established the term. The immediate source of proletariat [19] is French prolétariat (in the 19th century it was often anglicized to proletariate). English is also indebted to Latin prōlēs for prolific [17], which comes from the medieval Latin derivative prōlificus ‘producing offspring’.
=> adolescent, alimentary, alimony, prolific
prolix: prolix: see liquid
promenade: promenade: [16] Promenade was borrowed from French. It was a derivative of se promener ‘go for a walk’, which came from late Latin prōmināre ‘drive forward’. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix prō- ‘forward’ and mināre ‘drive’. It was originally used in English for a ‘leisurely walk’; ‘place for walking’ followed in the mid-17th century, but it does not seem to have been applied specifically to a ‘walk-way by the sea’ until the end of the 18th century. The abbreviation prom dates from the early 20th century. The term promenade concert originated in the 1830s.
prominent: prominent: [16] Prominent comes from the present participle of Latin prōminēre ‘jut out’. This was formed with the prefix prō- ‘forwards, out’ and -minēre ‘project’, a verbal element which also lies behind English eminent and imminent [16]. It was derived from *min- ‘project’, a base which also gave English menace and may be related ultimately to Latin mōns ‘mountain’ (source of English mount and mountain). Combination of prō- and mōns itself produced Latin prōmunturium ‘headland’, ancestor of English promontory [16].
=> eminent, imminent, menace