prehistory

Meaning

1. (countable, uncountable) The time before written records in any area of the world; the events and conditions of those times.
2. (countable, uncountable) The study of those times.
3. (countable, excessive, humorous, uncountable) Any past time (even recent) treated as such a distant, unknowable era.
4. (countable, often, uncountable) The history leading up to some event, condition, etc.

Synonyms

prehistoric culture

prehistoric times

paleontology

prehistorical

ancient time

geological age

prehistoric era

primeval period

events leading up

archaeology

events preceding

archaism

paleology

Translations

preistoria

Vorgeschichte

préhistoire

prehistoria

prehistorie

pré-história

Urgeschichte

Prähistorie

προϊστορία

prehistòria

voorgeschiedenis

Pré-História

prehistória

pêşdîrok

Etymology

From pre- (“before”) + history, first attested in the Foreign Quarterly Review in 1836, after the model of prehistoric, from French préhistorique.