prevalent (adj.)

early 15c., "having great power or force, controlling, ruling," from Latin praevalentem (nominative praevalens) "of superior strength; mighty," present participle of praevalere "to be more able," from prae "before" (see pre-) + valere "have power, be strong" (from PIE root *wal- "to be strong"). Meaning "widespread, extensively existing, in general use" is from 1650s.

also from early 15c.

Entries linking to prevalent

pre-

word-forming element meaning "before," from Old French pre- and Medieval Latin pre-, both from Latin prae (adverb and preposition) "before in time or place," from PIE *peri- (source also of Oscan prai, Umbrian pre, Sanskrit pare "thereupon," Greek parai "at," Gaulish are- "at, before," Lithuanian prie "at," Old Church Slavonic pri "at," Gothic faura, Old English fore "before"), extended form of root *per- (1) "forward," hence "beyond, in front of, before."

The Latin word was active in forming verbs. Also see prae-. Sometimes in Middle English muddled with words in pro- or per-.

*wal-

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to be strong."

It forms all or part of: ambivalence; Arnold; avail; bivalent; convalesce; countervail; Donald; equivalent; evaluation; Gerald; Harold; invalid (adj.1) "not strong, infirm;" invalid (adj.2) "of no legal force;" Isold; multivalent; polyvalent; prevalent; prevail; Reynold; Ronald; valediction; valence; Valerie; valetudinarian; valiance; valiant; valid; valor; value; Vladimir; Walter; wield.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Latin valere "be strong, be well, be worth;" Old Church Slavonic vlasti "to rule over;" Lithuanian valdyti "to have power;" Celtic *walos- "ruler," Old Irish flaith "dominion," Welsh gallu "to be able;" Old English wealdan "to rule," Old High German -walt, -wald "power" (in personal names), Old Norse valdr "ruler."

Trends of prevalent

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.

More to Explore

prevailing

1590s, "vigorous;" 1680s, "widely accepted, generally current," present-participle adjective from prevail (v.). Related: Prevailingly. Prevalent and prevailing are sometimes the same, and in two senses, that of exceeding in strength, as the prevalent (or prevailing) opinion was

predominant

1570s, "ruling; controlling; exerting power, authority, or influence," from French prédominant (14c.), from Medieval Latin *praedominantem (nominative praedominans), present participle of *praedominare, from Latin prae "before" (see pre-) + dominari "to rule, dominate, to govern,

dominant

mid-15c., dominaunt, in ordre dominaunt, the name of the fourth order of angels, from Old French dominant (13c.) and directly from Latin dominantem (nominative dominans), present participle of dominari "to rule, dominate, to govern," from dominus "lord, master," from domus "house

susurrus

Among the diseases of the ear, one of the most prevalent is the Paracusis imaginaria, to which both sexes are equally liable...

obtain

Intransitive sense of "be prevalent or customary, be established in practice" is from 1610s....

rife

Old English rife "abundant, of common occurrence, prevalent," often of hurtful or obnoxious things, from Proto-Germanic *...

whoop

Whooping cough (1739) is now the prevalent spelling of hooping cough; whooping crane is recorded from 1791....

fire

Old English fyr "fire, a fire," from Proto-Germanic *fūr- (source also of Old Saxon fiur, Old Frisian fiur, Old Norse fürr, Middle Dutch and Dutch vuur, Old High German fiur, German Feuer "fire"), from PIE *perjos, from root *paewr- "fire." Current spelling is attested as early a

institute

early 14c., "to establish in office, appoint," from Latin institutus, past participle of instituere "to set up, put in place; arrange; found, establish; appoint, designate; govern, administer; teach, instruct," from in- "in" (from PIE root *en "in") + statuere "establish, to caus

rhythm

16c. spelling variant or attempted classical correction of Middle English rime "measure, meter, rhythm," also "agreement in end-sounds of words or metrical lines, rhyme; a rhyming poem" (12c.), from Old French rime "verse," from Latin rhythmus "movement in time," from Greek

Share prevalent

‘cite’

Page URL:

https://www.etymonline.com/word/prevalent

HTML Link:

<a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/prevalent">Etymology of prevalent by etymonline</a>

APA style:

Harper, D. (n.d.). Etymology of prevalent. Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved $(datetime), from https://www.etymonline.com/word/prevalent

Chicago style:

Harper Douglas, “Etymology of prevalent,” Online Etymology Dictionary, accessed $(datetime), https://www.etymonline.com/word/prevalent.

MLA style:

Harper, Douglas. “Etymology of prevalent.” Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/word/prevalent. Accessed $(datetimeMla).

IEEE style:

D. Harper. “Etymology of prevalent.” Online Etymology Dictionary. https://www.etymonline.com/word/prevalent (accessed $(datetime)).

updated on October 30, 2020

Remove ads >

Dictionary entries near prevalent

prettyish

pretzel

prevail

prevailing

prevalence

prevalent

prevaricate

prevarication

prevaricator

prevenient

prevent