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Added 9 October 2026

prehistory

noun

First recorded: 1836 Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). More about prehistory at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

The time before written records in any area of the world; the events and conditions of those times.
The study of those times.
Any past time (even recent) treated as such a distant, unknowable era.

Origin

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

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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