PRé

Pré is a French noun meaning a meadow or pasture, an open grassy field used for grazing livestock or for haymaking. In rural speech, a pré is typically a smaller, often fenced or hedged area near a farm, distinct from a large natural prairie. The plural form is prés.

Pronunciation: approximately [pʁe]. The acute accent on é marks the closed e sound in standard French.

Etymology: The word pré comes from Old French and ultimately from Latin prātum, meaning meadow or field; cognates appear in other Romance languages (for example, Italian prato, Spanish prado).

Usage: The pré appears in everyday phrases such as aller au pré (to go to the meadow) or mettre le bétail au pré (to put the livestock in the pasture). It also occurs in toponyms and rural literature to denote meadowland.

Note on prefix: In other French words, pré- is a prefix meaning “before” (préavis, préface, préhistoire). Although spelled the same, it is a separate morpheme from the noun pré.

Related terms: prairie (a broader grassland), pâturage (pasture).