Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

precocious

/pɹəˈkəʊʃəs/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.86 in modern English

Syllables: pre-co-cious
IPA: /pɹəˈkəʊʃəs/

16

Scrabble Score

10

Letters

3

Syllables

8

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Characterized by exceptionally early development or maturity.

adj

Exhibiting advanced skills and aptitudes at an abnormally early age.

Example Sentences

"The precocious plant was already blooming flowers by day 4."
"Now those abominations whom you call precocious boys—your little pet monsters, doctor!—and who can wonder that the world is what it is? when it is full of them—as they will have no divine time to look back upon in their own lives, how can they believe in innocence and goodness, or be other than sons of selfishness and the Devil?"
"She's precocious and she knows just / What it takes to make a pro blush"
"Scotland’s most encouraging early source of an attacking threat was Andrew Robertson as the precocious left-back charged forward to good effect on a couple of occasions."
"Both groups, also, have already evolved precocious (intracapsular) spore germination."
"The precocious child began reading the newspaper at age four."

Etymology

From Latin praecox (“premature, precocious, ripe before time, early ripe”), from praecoquō (“to ripen beforehand, ripen fully, also boil beforehand”), from prae (“before”) + coquō (“to cook, boil, ripen”). Doublet of apricot.

Word Breakdown

Root: *pekʷ-

Inflected Forms

more precocious (comparative) most precocious (superlative) præcocious (alternative, obsolete)

Derived Forms

precociously precociousness unprecocious

Phrases

precocious pseudopuberty precocious puberty

Frequently Paired Words

precocity prodigy apricot

Synonyms

prodigious tranty

Antonyms

serotinous altricial

Rhymes With

ferocious atrocious supercalifragilisticexpialidocious braggadocious

Questions

How do you pronounce precocious?: The recorded pronunciation is /pɹəˈkəʊʃəs/.
What does precocious mean?: Characterized by exceptionally early development or maturity.
Where does precocious come from?: From Latin praecox (“premature, precocious, ripe before time, early ripe”), from praecoquō (“to ripen beforehand, ripen fully, also boil beforehand”), from prae (“before”) + coquō (“to cook, boil, ripen”). Doublet of apricot.

How to pronounce precocious

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