When was prejudice added to the dictionary or where/ how was it derived?

Question

respond asap...plz

Answer 1

Hi,
prejudice has been a part of the English language for at least five centuries...Shakespeare uses the word several times and he died just over 400 years ago.

The word is derived from the latin root 'judicia', which means 'to judge'. The 'pre' part is self explanatory, hence pre-judice means to prejudge.

Despite the modern acceptance as a more directly aimed word (aimed at minority groups, women, men, vegetarians, rock singers or any group that has people pre judge them) the words really mean that the pre-judger will decide the character of another person based on his/her ethnicity, sex, or any other charcter trait. This, then is real prejudice. The judging of people on unsound basics.

Hope that helps,

BobSpain

Answer 2

According to the Oxford English Dictionary prejudice as a noun is first used in 1290 by Becket. The sense and derivation is to pre-judge.