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prefect

UK/ˈpɹiːfɛkt/US/ˈpɹiːfɛkt/
nounB2+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #9,106 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: prefects

A prefect is an older pupil given some responsibility for others. Made a prefect, the head prefect, a prefect on duty.

The system is British and its former colonies, and it hands a little authority to senior pupils over younger ones. In France a prefect is something quite different — the state's appointed head of a department, an office created by Napoleon.

Gzen92 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Definitions of prefect

  1. 1nounprefectAn older pupil given some responsibility for others.B2+

    “The prefects helped the teachers keep order in the corridors at lunchtime.”

prefect is a pupil with responsibility.

Where it comes from

Latin praefectus means one placed in charge, from praeficere, to set over — prae, before, plus facere, to make.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *dʰeh₁-

  2. Latin

    praefectus — one placed in charge, overseer, director, prefect

  3. Old French

    prefect

  4. Middle English

    prefect

  5. English, today

    prefect

Built from

  • praeficiō · Latin — to place in charge

From Middle English prefect and prefecte, from Old French prefect (Mod. French préfet), from Latin praefectus (“one placed in charge, overseer, director, prefect”), from praeficiō (“to place in charge”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in School Subjects

Practise this word

prefect in the wild

  • The prefects again functioned as the chief ministers of the state, with many laws addressed to them by name.

    Praetorian prefect

  • A prefect in France is the State's representative in a department or region.

    Prefect (France)

  • The prefects in Lille, Rennes, Bordeaux, Marseille, Lyon and Strasbourg each have additional tasks as heads of their regional defence and security zone.

    Prefect (France)

  • As of 2026, there are three maritime prefects in metropolitan France, based in Cherbourg-en-Cotentin (Channel and North Sea), Brest (Atlantic Ocean) and Toulon (Mediterranean Sea).

    Maritime prefect

  • The office survived the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, and the last urban prefect of Rome, named Iohannes, is attested in 599.

    Praefectus urbi

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.