'Prejudice' shifted from a neutral legal term for 'prior judgment' to its modern meaning of unfounded bias.
Preconceived opinion not based on reason or experience; harm or injury resulting from some action or judgment; in law, detriment to one's legal rights or claims.
From Old French 'prejudice' (12th century), from Latin 'praeiūdicium,' meaning 'prior judgment,' composed of 'prae-' (before) and 'iūdicium' (judgment), from 'iūdex' (judge), itself from 'iūs' (law, right) and 'dicere' (to say, to declare). The original Latin meaning was neutral — simply 'a judgment made in advance' — but the word acquired negative connotations in Late Latin and Old French, coming to mean a judgment formed without adequate grounds, and then the harm resulting from such a judgment. Key roots: prae- (Latin