Prudent

How to spell prudent

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce prudent

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does prudent mean?

1. adjectiveActing with care and good sense, especially by thinking ahead and avoiding unnecessary risk.

Prudent in a sentence

• A prudent investor keeps several months of expenses in reserve.

• It would be prudent to read the contract carefully before signing.

Where does prudent come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin prudens, prudentem, which meant 'foreseeing, knowing in advance, and therefore wise'. That form was itself a contraction of providens, the present participle of providere, meaning 'to look ahead' or 'to provide for', built from pro 'before, ahead' and videre 'to see'. The original idea, then, was very literal: a prudent person is someone who sees what is coming and acts sensibly in the light of it. English borrowed the word in the late 1300s by way of Old French prudent, keeping the sense of cautious good judgement. The very same providere root gives us the closely related words 'provide', 'provident', and even 'providence', which is a helpful reminder that the missing letters of providens were squeezed out long ago and that prudent is simply spelled p-r-u-d-e-n-t with no hidden 'i'.

How the word is built

• prud- (contracted from Latin providens, foreseeing)
• -ent (adjective suffix forming 'one who does')