forewarn
verb
forewarn is a verb meaning “To warn in advance” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled F-O-R-E-W-A-R-N and has 2 syllables, and it appears about once in every 20 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data).
What does forewarn mean?
verb
- 1
To warn in advance.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce forewarn?
Forewarn has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Forms of forewarn
- forewarns present, singular, he/she/it
- forewarning participle, present
- forewarned participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is forewarn?
Forewarn appears about once in every 20 million words in written English, the 136,649th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Forewarn in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense to warn in advance:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | précautionner |
| German | vorwarnen |
| Portuguese | pré-avisar, acautelar |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does forewarn come from?
Early 14th century, from Middle English *forewarnen (suggested by Middle English forewarned, forewarning, forewarner, etc.), from Old English forewarnian (“to take warning beforehand; forewarn”), from Proto-Germanic *furawarnōną (“to forewarn”), equivalent to fore- + warn. Cognate with German vorwarnen (“to forewarn”), Swedish förvarna (“to forewarn”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).