# prescient

> English word · Adjective · IPA /ˈpɹɛsiənt/ · frequency rank #43,856

## Definitions
1. Exhibiting or possessing prescience: having knowledge of, or seemingly able to correctly predict, events before they take place.

## Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin praesciēns (“foreknowing; foretelling, predicting”), present participle of) Latin praesciō (“to foreknow”), from prae- (prefix meaning ‘before; in front’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *preh₂- (“before; in front”)) + sciō (“to know, understand; to have knowledge of”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *skey- (“to dissect; to split”)). The word is cognate with Middle French prescient (modern French prescient (“prescient”)), Italian presciente (“prescient”). By surface analysis, pre- (“earlier in time, beforehand”) + scient (“knowing, aware”).

## Easily confused with
- **present** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/prescient-vs-present)
- **president** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/prescient-vs-president)

## Common misspellings (14)
`perscient`, `pprescient`, `precsient`, `presccient`, `presceint`, `presciennt`, `prescientt`, `prescietn`, `prescinet`, `presicent`, `presscient`, `prrescient`, `prsecient`, `rpescient`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/prescient