prehistoric

See also: pre-historic and prehistòric

English

Alternative forms

• pre-historic

Etymology

From pre- (“before”) +‎ historic, q.v., similar to slightly earlier ante-historic.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒɹɪk

Adjective

prehistoric (comparative more prehistoric, superlative most prehistoric)

1. (properly) Of or relating to the epoch before written record.

   Synonym: ante-historic

   • 1832 October, Foreign Quarterly Review, page 369:

     Was it then in a pre-historic time that the Romans wandered into these lands?

   • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 137:

     The cartoon image of prehistoric woman being dragged by the hair by her caveman-husband probably conditions the perceptions of archaeologists far more than they realize.

2. (inexact or humorous) Ancient; very old, outdated, etc.

   Synonym: antediluvian

Derived terms

• prehistorically
• prehistoric age

Related terms

• prehistory

Descendants

• French: préhistorique

Translations

of relating to the epoch before written record

• Albanian: parahistorik (sq), prehistorik (sq)
• Arabic: مَا قَبْلَ التَّارِيخ (mā qabla t-tārīḵ)
• Armenian: նախապատմական (hy) (naxapatmakan)
• Asturian: prehistóricu
• Azerbaijani: tarixdən qabaqkı
• Belarusian: дагістары́чны (dahistarýčny)
• Bengali: প্রাগৈতিহাসিক (bn) (pragōitihaśik)
• Bulgarian: предистори́чески (bg) (predistoríčeski)
• Catalan: prehistòric
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 史前的 (shǐqián de)

• Czech: pravěký (cs)
• Danish: forhistorisk
• Dutch: prehistorisch (nl)
• Esperanto: prahistoria
• Estonian: eelajalooline
• Faroese: fyrisøguligur
• Finnish: esihistoriallinen (fi)
• French: préhistorique (fr)
• Galician: prehistórico (gl)
• Georgian: პრეისტორიული (ṗreisṭoriuli), წინარეისტორიული (c̣inareisṭoriuli), წინაისტორიული (c̣inaisṭoriuli)
• German: vorgeschichtlich (de), vorhistorisch, prähistorisch (de)
• Greek: προϊστορικός (el) (proïstorikós)
• Hebrew: פרהיסטורי (prehistóri)
• Hindi: प्रागैतिहासिक (prāgaitihāsik)
• Hungarian: történelem előtti (hu)
• Icelandic: forsögulegur (is)
• Ido: prehistoriala (io)
• Indonesian: prasejarah (id)
• Italian: preistorico (it)
• Japanese: 先史の (ja) (せんしの, senshi no), 先史時代の (せんしじだいの, senshi jidai no)
• Kannada: please add this translation if you can
• Kazakh: тарихқа дейінгі (tarixqa deiıñı), тарихтан бұрынғы (tarixtan būrynğy)
• Khmer: បុរេប្រវត្តិ (km) (poreeprɑvŏət)
• Korean: 선사의 (ko) (seonsa-ui), 선사 시대의 (seonsa sidae-ui)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: pêşdîrokî (ku)

• Kyrgyz: тарыхка чейинки (tarıhka ceyinki), тарыхтан мурунку (tarıhtan murunku)
• Latin: please add this translation if you can
• Latvian: aizvēsturisks
• Lithuanian: priešistorinis
• Macedonian: предисториски (predistoriski)
• Malay: prasejarah (ms)
• Maltese: preistoriku
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: forhistorisk

  Nynorsk: forhistorisk

• Polish: prehistoryczny (pl)
• Portuguese: pré-histórico (pt)
• Romanian: preistoric (ro)
• Russian: доистори́ческий (ru) (doistoríčeskij)
• Scottish Gaelic: ro-eachdraidheil
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: prètpovijēsnī (sh), pràpovijēsnī (sh)

• Slovak: praveký
• Slovene: prazgodovinski
• Spanish: prehistórico (es)
• Swedish: förhistorisk (sv)
• Tagalog: sinauna
• Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: tarih öncesi (tr)
• Ukrainian: доістори́чний (doistorýčnyj)
• Uzbek: tarixdan ilgarigi
• Vietnamese: tiền sử (vi) (先史)
• Volapük: rujenavik
• Welsh: cynhanesyddol

outdated

• French: préhistorique (fr)
• Galician: prehistórico (gl) m

See also

• precontact