Wordwyrt

prevail

/pɹɪˈveɪl/prih-VAYL
/pɹɪˈveɪl/prih-VAYL

Meaningto be stronger

Common meaning: to win out

‘before’ + ‘have strength’ → prevail

Journey through time

  1. Latinvaleō, valuī‘have strength’
  2. Old Frenchprevaloirsource
  3. Englishprevail‘to win out’ · today

pre- also in: prefixprecedeprecisepredictpreface

vail also in: availvalidvaluevaliantevaluate

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Built on Latin valeō ‘have strength; be of worth’.

Did you know (Latin prae "beyond"…): our wording, based on Skeat, Etymological Dictionary (1898), entry PREVAIL, p. 466 · dictionary scan

Did you know (Latin valere, "have…): our wording, based on Lewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), entry valeō, p. 1953 · dictionary scan

Roots

Related words

availequivalentevaluatevaliantvalidvalue

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