Link Centre Dictionary

precocious

pre·co·cious

UK/pɹəˈkəʊʃəs/ US/priˈkoʊʃʌs/ uncommon

adjective

1.

characterized by or characteristic of exceptionally early development or maturity (especially in mental aptitude)

  • “a precocious child”
  • “a precocious achievement”
Antonyms
Similar
2.

appearing or developing early

  • “precocious flowers appear before the leaves as in some species of magnolias”
Similar

Origin

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.

Phrases

  • precocious pseudopuberty
  • precocious puberty

Related words

Word family

See also

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.