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She was a precocious child who could read before she went to school.
A precocious musician, he was giving concerts when he was seven.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'precocious.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Precocious got started in Latin when the prefix prae-, meaning "ahead of," was combined with the verb coquere, meaning "to cook" or "to ripen," to form the adjective "praecox," which means "early ripening" or "premature." By 1650, English speakers had turned "praecox" into "precocious" and were using it especially of plants that produced blossoms before their leaves came out. By the 1670s, "precocious" was also being used to describe humans who developed skills or talents before others typically did.
First Known Use: 1650
in the meaning defined at sense 1
See Words from the same yearlate;
behindhand, belated, delinquent, latish, overdue, slow, tardy;
of a child : having or showing the qualities or abilities of an adult at an unusually early age
See words that rhyme with precocious Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for precocious Spanish Central: Translation of precocious Nglish: Translation of precocious for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of precocious for Arabic speakers
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