Prenatal

How to spell prenatal

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce prenatal

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does prenatal mean?

1. adjectiveOccurring or existing in the period before birth.

Prenatal in a sentence

• The clinic offers free prenatal checkups for expectant mothers.

• Doctors recommend a daily prenatal vitamin during pregnancy.

Where does prenatal come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Prenatal is built from the Latin prefix prae, meaning 'before', joined to natalis, an adjective meaning 'relating to birth' that grew from natus, the past participle of nasci, 'to be born'. The same nasci root quietly lives inside familiar words such as 'native', 'nation', 'nativity', and even 'Renaissance', all carrying the idea of being born or coming into being. The compound emerged in medical and scientific English in the nineteenth century to describe the period and care that come before a child is born. The spelling is wholly regular once you see the two clear parts, 'pre' plus 'natal', so the chief trap is simply remembering that the prefix is 'pre' and not 'pri'. In British medical usage the older synonym 'antenatal' is also common, built on the parallel Latin prefix ante, also meaning 'before'.

How the word is built

• pre- (before)
• nat (from natus: born)
• -al (adjective suffix)