Dictionary

pre-Columbian en · ADJ

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *per- Proto-Indo-European *preh₂- Proto-Indo-European *-i Proto-Indo-European *préh₂i? Proto-Italic *prai Proto-Italic *prai- Latin prae-lbor. Middle English pre- English pre- English Columbian English pre-Columbian From pre- + Columbian.

Meanings

1. (historical, not-comparable) Before the voyages of Christopher Columbus of the 1490s which introduced greatly widened contacts between Eurasia and the Americas.
   • since pre-Columbian times
   • unknown in Europe in pre-Columbian times
2. (not-comparable) Referring to the cultures of the Americas before the European influence, specifically to the era before the continent was visited by Christopher Columbus.
   • In fact, the dating of pre-Columbian Andean cultures was largely a matter of guesswork. 1961, Margaret A. Towle, The Ethnobotany of Pre-Columbian Peru, Transaction Publishers, →ISBN, page 2:
   • Boys trained to be warriors, but why did pre-Columbian peoples battle one another? 2010, Marylou Kjelle, In Pre-Columbian America, Mitchell Lane Publishers, Inc., →ISBN, page 41:
   • pre-Columbian civilizations
   • pre-Columbian cultures

Forms

Antonyms

post-Columbian · postcolumbian

Coordinates

pre-European · precolonial · pre-Hispanic · precontact · Columbian

Relateds

Columbian Exchange

Translations (13)

el προκολομβιανός (before Christopher Columbus) · de vorkolumbisch (before Christopher Columbus) · da præ-columbiansk (before Christopher Columbus) · es precolombino (before Christopher Columbus) · fr précolombien (before Christopher Columbus) · hu prekolumbiánus (before Christopher Columbus) · it precolombiano (before Christopher Columbus) · sv förcolumbiansk (before Christopher Columbus) · de präkolumbisch (before Christopher Columbus) · nl precolumbiaans (before Christopher Columbus) · pt pré-colombiano (before Christopher Columbus) · ca precolombí (before Christopher Columbus) · gl precolombiano (before Christopher Columbus)