prehistory

English

Alternative forms

• pre-history

Etymology

From pre- (“before”) +‎ history, first attested in the Foreign Quarterly Review in 1836, after the model of prehistoric, from French préhistorique.

Noun

prehistory (countable and uncountable, plural prehistories)

1. The time before written records in any area of the world; the events and conditions of those times.

   Synonym: prehistoric age

2. The study of those times.
3. (humorous, hyperbolic) Any past time (even recent) treated as such a distant, unknowable era.
   • 1984, Shiva Naipaul, Beyond the Dragon's Mouth, page 25:

     I was a town boy through and through. The country belonged to a vague pre-history.

4. (often as pre-history) The history leading up to some event, condition, etc.
   • 1931 July 25, Time & Tide, page 893:

     Psychologists... are mostly bad historians, inventing—as Freud has done—their pre-history to suit their theories.

Antonyms

• posthistory

Related terms

• prehistorian
• prehistoric

Translations

era before written records

• Albanian: parahistori (sq) f
• Arabic: عَصْر مَا قَبْلَ التَّارِيخ (ʕaṣr mā qabla t-tārīḵ)
• Belarusian: прагісто́рыя f (prahistóryja)
• Bengali: প্রাগিতিহাস (bn) (pragitihaś)
• Bulgarian: праисто́рия (bg) f (praistórija)
• Burmese: သမိုင်းမတိုင်မီခေတ် (sa.muing:ma.tuingmihket)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 史前 (zh) (shǐqián), 史前時代／史前时代 (shǐqián shídài)

• Czech: pravěk (cs) m
• Finnish: esihistoriallinen aika
• French: préhistoire (fr) f
• Georgian: პრეისტორია (ṗreisṭoria), წინარეისტორია (c̣inareisṭoria)
• German: Vorzeit (de) f, Urgeschichte (de) f
• Hebrew: פרהיסטוריה
• Hindi: प्रागितिहास m (prāgitihās)
• Indonesian: prasejarah (id)
• Italian: preistoria (it) f
• Japanese: 先史時代 (ja) (せんしじだい, senshi jidai)
• Korean: 선사 시대(先史時代) (ko) (seonsa sidae)
• Macedonian: праисторија f (praistorija)
• Polish: prehistoria (pl) f
• Romanian: preistorie (ro) f
• Russian: доистори́ческий пери́од m (doistoríčeskij períod), праисто́рия (ru) f (praistórija), преисто́рия (ru) f (preistórija), доисто́рия (ru) f (doistórija)
• Slovak: pravek m
• Slovene: prazgodovina (sl) f
• Turkish: prehistorya (tr), tarih öncesi (tr)
• Ukrainian: преісто́рія f (preistórija), доісто́рія f (doistórija)
• Vietnamese: tiền sử (vi) (先史)

study of events and conditions before written records

• Armenian: նախապատմություն (hy) (naxapatmutʻyun)
• Asturian: prehistoria f
• Catalan: prehistòria (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 史前史 (zh) (shǐqiánshǐ)

• Czech: pravěk (cs) m
• Danish: forhistorie
• Dutch: prehistorie (nl) f
• Esperanto: prahistorio (eo)
• Finnish: esihistoria (fi)
• French: préhistoire (fr) f
• Galician: prehistoria (gl) f
• Georgian: პრეისტორია (ṗreisṭoria), წინარეისტორია (c̣inareisṭoria)
• German: Vorgeschichte (de) f, Urgeschichte (de) f
• Italian: preistoria (it) f
• Japanese: 先史学 (せんしがく, senshigaku)
• Korean: 선사학(先史學) (seonsahak)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: pêşdîrok (ku) f

• Macedonian: праисторија f (praistorija)
• Malay: prasejarah (ms)

  Jawi: ڤراسجاره (ms)

• Norman: préhistouaithe f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: forhistorie m or f

  Nynorsk: forhistorie f

• Polish: prehistoria (pl) f
• Portuguese: pré-história (pt) f
• Russian: праисто́рия (ru) f (praistórija), преисто́рия (ru) f (preistórija), доисто́рия (ru) f (doistórija)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: prethistorija (sh) f, prahistorija (sh) f, pretpovijest (sh) f, prapovijest (sh) f, prehistorija f

• Slovak: pravek m
• Slovene: prazgodovina (sl) f
• Spanish: prehistoria (es) f
• Swedish: förhistoria (sv) c
• Turkish: prehistorya (tr), tarih öncesi (tr)
• Ukrainian: передісто́рія f (peredistórija)
• Vietnamese: thời tiền sử
• Volapük: rujenav

history of events leaving up to something

• Armenian: նախապատմություն (hy) (naxapatmutʻyun)
• Belarusian: перадгісто́рыя f (pjeradhistóryja)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 發展背景／发展背景 (fāzhǎn bèijǐng)

• Danish: forhistorie
• Finnish: historia (fi)
• French: préhistoire (fr) f
• German: Vorgeschichte (de) f
• Japanese: 前史 (ja) (ぜんし, zenshi)
• Korean: 전사(前史) (ko) (jeonsa)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: forhistorie m or f

  Nynorsk: forhistorie f

• Polish: prehistoria (pl) f
• Russian: предысто́рия (ru) f (predystórija)
• Ukrainian: передісто́рія f (peredistórija)

References

• “prehistory, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 2007.