Prognosticate
I predict high praise and universal adulation.
prognosticate
(prog-noss-stih-kayt)
verb
To prognosticate means to predict that something will happen in the future.
Are you interested in astrology? Or tarot? Me neither, but these serve as a good exemplification of this week’s word. The goal of astrology, tarot, crystal balls, palm reading, tea leaves… is to prognosticate the future events in one’s life (or, indeed, events more generally).
The word shares origins with the much more familiar word ‘prognosis’, and any lapsed classicists or speakers of Greek should be able to work out the roots of these words. ‘Pro-‘ means ‘before’ and is seen in words such as prologue (the words that come before) and prostate (the one who stands in front). ‘-gnosis’ comes from the root ‘gignosco’, meaning ‘to know’, which also gives us the more familiar agnostic (one who does not know).
So both prognosis and prognosticate mean, literally, ‘knowing in advance’.
What are your prognostications for the week? I predict high temperatures, and consequently, lots of ice cream.
Did you enjoy Word of the Week? Is there a word you would like to see featured? Leave your thoughts in a comment.
#WordoftheWeek #WOTW