preen

Meanings

Noun

Verb

Origin

  • From Middle English pren, from Old English prēon, from Proto-Germanic *preunaz (compare Icelandic prjónn ("pin, knitting-needle"), Danish pryne ‘needle, eel-spear’), from Proto-Indo-European *brewn- ("protrusion, tip, edge") (compare Lithuanian briaunà ‘edge’, Albanian brez ‘belt, girdle’).
  • The verb is from Middle English prenen, from pren.
  • Variant of prune (by influence of preen above). Attested in Chaucer (c. 1395) in the variants preyneth, prayneth, proyneth, prunyht, pruneth, from Old French proignier ("to trim the feathers with the beak").

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