praecox

English

Noun

praecox (uncountable)

1. dementia praecox
   • 1995, Elizabeth Lunbeck, The Psychiatric Persuasion:

     Psychiatrists did not know the etiology of dementia praecox, but their working assumption was that the brains of praecox patients exhibited "demonstrable microscopic cortex changes" as well as "gross anatomical anomalies" […]

Alternative forms

• precox

See also

• ejaculation praecox
• ejaculatio praecox

 

Anagrams

• exocarp, precoxa

Latin

Alternative forms

• praecoquus

Etymology

From praecoquō, from prae- + coquō.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈprae̯.koks/, [ˈpräe̯kɔks̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈpre.koks/, [ˈprɛːkoks]

Adjective

praecox (genitive praecocis); third-declension one-termination adjective

1. ripe before its time; premature
2. precocious; untimely

Declension

Third-declension one-termination adjective.

Number	Singular			Plural
Case / Gender	Masc./Fem.	Neuter		Masc./Fem.	Neuter
Nominative	praecox			praecocēs	praecocia
Genitive	praecocis			praecocium
Dative	praecocī			praecocibus
Accusative	praecocem	praecox		praecocēs	praecocia
Ablative	praecocī			praecocibus
Vocative	praecox			praecocēs	praecocia

Derived terms

• ⇒ Late Latin: (persica) praecocia (literally “early-ripe (peaches)”), (mālum) praecoquum (literally “early-ripe (apple)”)
  • → Ancient Greek: πραικόκιον (praikókion) (see there for further descendants)

Descendants

• → Catalan: precoç
• → English: precocious
• → French: précoce
• → Friulian: precoç
• → Italian: precoce
• → Occitan: precòce
• → Romanian: precoce
• → Sicilian: pricoci
• → Spanish: precoz

References

• “praecox”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• praecox in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.