## Meanings
1. The chance or likelihood that something will happen, often something good.
2. Opportunities for future success, especially in a career.
3. To search an area for valuable minerals such as gold or oil.

## Examples
- There is little prospect of finding a job here.
- Her prospects as a writer are excellent.
- They went into the hills to prospect for gold.

## Derived Forms
- bioprospect
- nonprospect
- prospectless
- prospector
- unprospected

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *speḱ-
- Root: prospecte
- Root: prōspectus

## Etymology
From Middle English prospecte, from Latin prōspectus (“view, sight, prospect; panorama”), from prōspiciō (“to look forward”) + -tus (suffix forming action nouns), from pro (“before, forward”) + speciō, spiciō (“to look, to see”). By surface analysis, pro- + -spect. Doublet of prospectus and prospekt. The verb is from the noun.

## AI Etymology
Prospect comes from Middle English prospecte, from Latin prōspectus (“view, sight, prospect; panorama”), from prōspiciō (“to look forward”) + -tus (suffix forming action nouns), from pro (“before, forward”) + speciō, spiciō (“to look, to see”). By surface analysis, pro- + -spect. Doublet of prospectus and prospekt. The verb is from the noun. In present-day English it covers the chance or likelihood that something will happen, often something good, opportunities for future success, especially in a career, and to search an area for valuable minerals such as gold or oil. The wider family includes derived forms such as bioprospect, nonprospect, prospectless, prospector, unprospected.

## Topics
- Materials & Substances

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