Prudent is from Old French prudent, from Latin prudentem ('foreseeing, sagacious'), a contraction of providentem ('foreseeing'), from providere ('to foresee'), from pro- ('ahead') + videre ('to see'). Important recorded forms include prudens (Latin), videre (Latin), and *weyd- (Proto-Indo-European). Morphologically, the word preserves a built structure whose named elements carry the historical sense into English. The modern sense remains close to that composition, with the parts narrowing into a single lexical item. In current use it covers acting with care and sound judgment for the future. The wider family includes derived forms such as prudently and prudence and related words such as prudential, providence, and provident.