- prescription
- c.1380, "the right to something through long use," from O.Fr. prescription (13c.), from L. præscriptionem (nom. præscriptio) "a writing before, order, direction," from præscriptus, pp. of præscribere "write before," from præ- "before" + scribere "to write" (see script). Medical sense of "written directions from a doctor" first recorded 1579. Prescribe "to write down as a direction" is from 1535.