# Prisoner
## Overview
A **prisoner** is a person held in confinement — in a jail, prison, or detention facility — or a person captured by an enemy in wartime. The word derives from the act of seizing and holding, encoding the physical reality of captivity in its etymology.
## Etymology
From Old French *prisonier* ('captive'), from *prison* ('captivity, imprisonment'), from Latin *prensionem* (a contraction of *prehensionem*, 'a seizing, arrest'), from *prehendere* ('to seize, take, grasp'), composed of *prae-* ('before, in front') and *-hendere* ('to grasp, seize'). The PIE root is **\*ghend-** ('to seize, take').
Latin *prehendere* ('to seize') is one of the most productive yet best-disguised Latin roots in English. Its past participle *prehensus* and its contracted forms (*prensus*, *prisus*) generated words that look nothing alike but share the core meaning of grasping:
- **Prison**: from *prensio* ('a seizing') — a place of seized people - **Prize**: from Old French *prise* ('a taking') — something seized, especially in war or competition - **Surprise**: *super-* ('over') + *prehendere* — to seize from above, to catch unawares - **Enterprise**: *inter-* ('between') + *prehendere* — to seize between, to undertake - **Apprehend**: *ad-* ('to') + *prehendere* — to seize toward, to arrest or to understand - **Comprehend**: *com-* ('together') + *prehendere* — to seize together, to grasp mentally - **Reprehend**: *re-* ('back') + *prehendere* — to seize back, to criticize - **Prehensile**: able to grasp (of a tail or limb)
The semantic range — from physical arrest to mental understanding — shows how 'grasping' serves as a metaphor for cognition. To comprehend an idea is to 'seize it together' in the mind.
## PIE Connections
PIE **\*ghend-** ('to seize, take') also produced English **get** (through Old Norse *geta*, 'to obtain, reach') and **forget** (*for-* 'away' + *get* — to 'lose one's grasp' on a memory). Beget ('to get' a child) and guess (originally 'to try to get at' the truth) are further descendants.
## Legal and Military Distinctions
Modern usage distinguishes several categories:
- **Prisoner** (general): any person deprived of liberty through legal process - **Prisoner of war** (POW): a combatant captured by an enemy during armed conflict, protected by the Geneva Conventions - **Political prisoner**: a person imprisoned for their political beliefs or activities - **Prisoner of conscience** (Amnesty International term): someone imprisoned solely for peacefully expressing beliefs
## Related Forms
The family includes **prison** (noun), **imprison** (verb), **imprisonment** (noun), **prisoner** (noun), and the archaic **prisonment**. The compound **prisoner of war** is abbreviated POW.