Prefaces

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. A preliminary section in a book that introduces the main text and sets the stage for the reader's understanding
2. An introductory statement or remarks made before a speech that provide context and frame the following discourse
3. An opening section in literary works that offers insight or background, enhancing the reader's comprehension of the content that follows

Etymology: "Prefaces" is the third-person singular present form of the verb "preface," so it is the form of a word meaning to introduce something with a preliminary statement, and the noun sense is the same word. The verb itself is a late 14th-century English arrival, taken from Old French "preface," which passed on the Medieval Latin "prefātia" and the classical Latin "praefātiō," meaning "a saying beforehand." The root is a neat piece of Latin construction: "prae-" means "beforehand," and "for," meaning "to speak," gives a literal sense of speaking before the main matter begins. The English word therefore carries its own instructions, since a preface is exactly that: words spoken ahead of the body of the text, setting the stage before the substance arrives.

Synonyms: introductions, forewords