English

forepart

Forepart comes from Middle English foreparte.

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

Earliest quotation: 1665, Robert Hooke, Micrographia: “The wing being suppos'd placed in the upmost limit,…”

Formed from fore- + part

Proto-Indo-European *per- ‘before, formerly’

Proto-Germanic *fura- ‘before, in front of, for’

Proto-West Germanic *forē- ‘before, in front of, fore-, pre-’

English fore-

Proto-Italic *partis ‘part’

Latin pars ‘part, portion, piece, share’

Latin partem ‘accusative of pars’

Old English part ‘part’

Middle English part

English part

Every English word from Middle English foreparte

noun The front or anterior part of something.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.