precept

English

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• præcept (obsolete)

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin praeceptum, form of praecipere (“to teach”), from Latin prae (“pre-”) + capere (“take”).

Noun

precept (plural precepts)

1. A rule or principle, especially one governing personal conduct.
   • 2006: Theodore Dalrymple The Gift of Language
     • I need hardly point out that Pinker doesn't really believe anything of what he writes, at least if example is stronger evidence of belief than precept.
   • 1891: (Can we date this quote?) Susan Hale, Mexico, volume 27, The Story of the Nations, London: T. Fisher Unwin, page 80:
     • He found a people in the extreme of barbarism living in caves, feeding upon the bloody flesh of animals they killed in hunting; he taught them many things, so that by his example, and for generations after he left them by his precepts, they advanced to high civilization.
2. (law) A written command, especially a demand for payment.

Translations

rule or principle governing personal conduct

• Czech: zásada (cs) f
• Dutch: regel (nl) m, gedragsregel (nl) m, principe (nl)
• Finnish: sääntö (fi), ohje (fi), ohjenuora (fi)
• French: précepte (fr)

• German: Gebot (de), Vorschrift (de)
• Portuguese: preceito (pt)
• Russian: принцип (ru) (princip) m
• Turkish: ta'lim (tr), ögreti (tr), ta'lim buyurmak (tr)

Verb

precept (third-person singular simple present precepts, present participle precepting, simple past and past participle precepted)

1. (obsolete) To teach by precepts.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Francis Bacon to this entry?)

Anagrams

• percept

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Old Irish

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin praeceptum, form of praecipere (“to teach”), from Latin prae (“pre-”) + capere (“take”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈpʲrʲeɡʲept/

Noun

precept f (genitive precepte)

1. preaching, teaching
   • circa 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, Wb. 21^c19

     Is oc precept soscéli at·tó.

     I am preaching the gospel.

Usage notes

Functions as a verbal noun of a verb with no finite forms.

Mutation

Old Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Nasalization
precept	phrecept	precept pronounced with /b(ʲ)-/
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.