prognosis

the word prognosis is a direct borrowing from late latin, which itself came from the greek prognōsis, meaning "foreknowledge". it is composed of the prefix pro- ("before") and the root gnōsis ("knowledge"). this construction perfectly captures the original medical and general sense of knowing something beforehand—specifically, the likely course of a disease or future event. the greek root gnō- (to know) is part of a widespread indo-european family, related to the latin gno- in words like cognoscere (to get to know), illustrating a deep-seated concept of acquiring knowledge that evolved into this specialized term for predictive judgment.

Structure: pro (before) + gnosis (knowledge) - pro: a prefix of latin origin, meaning "before, forward, in front of". - gnosis: from greek gnōsis, meaning "knowledge, inquiry, recognition". its functional role is as the core root conveying the sense of knowing.