What is the root meaning of the word 'predict'?

• A. To announce something in advance.
• B. To make an educated guess about the future.
• C. To say before (to foretell).
• D. To summarize data

Answer: (C)

Root meaning tested: predict comes from the Latin praedicere, built from prae- meaning before and dicere meaning to say. So it literally means “to say before”—to foretell what will happen. That exact sense is why this option fits best: it captures the idea of stating something about the future in advance. The other ideas are related but don’t reflect the same root meaning: announcing in advance emphasizes telling something ahead of time without the sense of foretelling; making an educated guess describes guessing about the future but not the linguistic idea of saying it beforehand; summarizing data is unrelated to predicting.