Online Etymology Dictionary

profiling (n.): by 1852 as a term in field engineering, verbal noun from profile (v.). The racial/ethnic stereotyping sense is attested from c. 1991, American English.
profit (n.): mid-13c., "income;" c. 1300, "benefit, advantage;"from Old French prufit, porfit "profit, gain" (mid-12c.), from Latin profectus "profit, advance, increase, success, progress," noun use of past participle of proficere (see proficiency). As the opposite of loss, it replaced Old English gewinn. Profit margin attested from 1853.
profit (v.): early 14c., "to advance, benefit, gain," from profit (n.) and from Old French prufiter, porfiter "to benefit," from prufit (see profit (n.)). Related: Profited; profiting.
profitability (n.): mid-14c., from profitable + -ity.
profitable (adj.): c. 1300, "yielding benefit, useful," from profit (v.) + -able or from Old French profitable, porfitable. Specific sense of "money-making" is attested from 1758. Related: Profitably.
profiteer (v.): 1797, but dormant in English until it was revived in World War I, from profit + -eer. From 1912 as a noun. Related: Profiteering (1814).
Or is it simply hysteria which produces what is to-day termed "the profiteer?" It is probable that the modern profiteer is the same person whom we formerly called "the grafter, the extortioner, the robber, the gouger." ["Legal Aid Review," April 1920]
profitless (adj.): 1590s, from profit (n.) + -less.
profligacy (n.): 1670s, from profligate + -cy.
profligate (adj.): 1520s, "overthrown, routed" (now obsolete in this sense), from Latin profligatus "destroyed, ruined, corrupt, abandoned, dissolute," past participle of profligare "to cast down, defeat, ruin," from pro- "down, forth" (see pro-) + fligere "to strike" (see afflict). Main modern meaning "recklessly extravagant" is 1779, via notion of "ruined by vice" (1640s, implied in a use of profligation). Related: Profligately. As a noun from 1709.
profound (adj.): c. 1300, "characterized by intellectual depth," from Old French profund (12c., Modern French profond), from Latin profundus "deep, bottomless, vast," also "obscure; profound; immoderate," from pro- "forth" (see pro-) + fundus "bottom" (see fund (n.)). The literal and figurative senses both were in Latin, but English, having already deep, employed this word primarily in its figurative sense. Related: Profoundly.
profundity (n.): early 15c., "bottom of the sea," from Old French profundite (Modern French profondité) and directly from Late Latin profunditatem (nominative profunditas) "depth, intensity, immensity," from profundus "deep, vast" (see profound). Meaning "depth of intellect" in English is from c. 1500.
profuse (adj.): early 15c., "lavish, extravagant," from Latin profusus "spread out, lavish, extravagant," literally "poured forth," noun use of past participle of profundere "pour forth," from pro- "forth" (see pro-) + fundere "to pour" (see found (v.2)). Meaning "bountiful" is from c. 1600. Related: Profusely; profuseness.
profusion (n.): 1540s, from Middle French profusion (16c.) and directly from Late Latin profusionem (nominative profusio) "a pouring out," noun of action from past participle stem of profundere (see profuse).
profusive (adj.): 1630s, from profuse + -ive. Related: Profusively; profusiveness.
prog: 1958, colloquial shortening of progressive (q.v.). Earlier it was British student slang for proctor (1890) and earlier still a cant word for "food, provisions" (1650s), perhaps from verb prog "to poke about" (1610s), of unknown origin, perhaps related to prod (v.). Related: Progged; progging.
progenitor (n.): late 14c., from Anglo-French progenitour (mid-14c.), Old French progeniteur (14c.) and directly from Latin progenitor "ancestor, the founder of a family," agent noun from progenitus, past participle of progignere (see progeny). Related: Progenitive; progenital; progenitrix (c. 1600).
progeny (n.): early 14c., from Old French progenie (13c.) and directly from Latin progenies "descendants, offspring, lineage, race, family," from stem of progignere "beget," from pro- "forth" (see pro-) + gignere "to produce, beget" (see genus).
progeria (n.): 1902, Modern Latin, from Greek progeros "prematurely old;" from pro- (see pro-) + geras "old man" (see geriatric) + abstract noun ending -ia.
progesterone (n.): female steroid sex hormone which prepares the uterus for child-bearing, 1935, from German Progesteron, from progestin (from which substance it was obtained), which had been coined 1930 from pro- (see pro-) + Latin gestare, literally "to carry about" (see gestation), on notion of "substance which favors gestation." Also see -one.
prognathous (adj.): 1836, from pro- + gnatho- "jaw" + -ous. Related: Prognathic.
prognosis (n.): 1650s, "forecast of the probable course of a disease," from Late Latin prognosis, from Greek prognosis "foreknowledge," also, in medicine, "predicted course of a disease," from stem of progignoskein "come to know beforehand," from pro- "before" (see pro-) + gignoskein "come to know" (see gnostic). General (non-medical) use in English from 1706. A back-formed verb prognose is attested from 1837. Related: Prognosed; prognosing.
prognostic (adj.): c. 1600, from Medieval Latin prognosticus, from Greek prognostikos "foreknowing," from progignoskein (see prognosis). Related: Prognostical (1580s).
prognosticate (v.): early 15c., a back-formation from prognostication and also from Medieval Latin prognosticatus, past participle of prognosticare (see prognostication). Related: Prognosticated; prognosticating.
prognostication (n.): late 14c., from Old French pronosticacion (14c.) and directly from Medieval Latin *prognosticationem (nominative prognosticatio), noun of action from past participle stem of prognosticare "foretell," from Latin prognostica "sign to forecast weather," from neuter plural of Greek prognostikos "foreknowing," from progignoskein (see prognosis).
prognosticator (n.): 1550s, agent noun in Latin form from prognosticate.
program (n.): 1630s, "public notice," from Late Latin programma "proclamation, edict," from Greek programma "a written public notice," from stem of prographein "to write publicly," from pro- "forth" (see pro-) + graphein "to write" (see -graphy).

General sense of "a definite plan or scheme" is recorded from 1837. Meaning "list of pieces at a concert, playbill" first recorded 1805 and retains the original sense. That of "objects or events suggested by music" is from 1854. Sense of "broadcasting presentation" is from 1923. Computer sense (noun and verb) is from 1945. Spelling programme, established in Britain, is from French in modern use and began to be used early 19c., originally especially in the "playbill" sense. Program music attested from 1877.
program (v.): 1889, "write program notes;" 1896, "arrange according to program," from program (n.). Of computers from 1945. From 1963 in the figurative sense of "to train to behave in a predetermined way." Related: Programmed; programming.
programmable (adj.): 1959, from program (v.) + -able.
programmatic (adj.): 1847, from Greek programma (genitive programmatos; see program (n.)) + -ic. Related: Programmatically.
programme: see program.
programmer (n.): 1890, "event planner," agent noun from program (v.). Meaning "person who programs computers" is attested from 1948.
progress (n.): late 14c., "a going on, action of walking forward," from Old French progres (Modern French progrès), from Latin progressus "a going forward," from past participle of progredi (see progression).

In early use in English especially "a state journey by royalty." Figurative sense of "growth, development, advancement to higher stages" is from c. 1600. To be in progress "underway" is attested by 1849. Progress report attested by 1865.
progress (v.): 1590s in the literal sense; c. 1600 in the figurative sense, from progress (n.). OED says the verb was obsolete in English 18c. but was reformed or retained in America and subsequently long regarded in Britain as an Americanism. Related: Progressed; progressing.
progression (n.): late 14c., "action of moving from one condition to another," from Old French progression and directly from Latin progressionem (nominative progressio) "a going forward, advancement, growth, increase," noun of action from past participle stem of progredi "go forward," from pro- "forward" (see pro-) + gradi "to step, walk," from gradus "step" (see grade (n.)).
progressive (adj.): c. 1600, "characterized by advancement" (in action, character, etc.), from progress (n.) + -ive, or else from French progressif, from past participle stem of Latin progredi. Of taxation, from 1889; of jazz, from 1947. Meaning "characterized by striving for change and innovation, avant-garde, liberal" is from 1908.

In the socio-political sense "favoring reform; radically liberal," it emerged in various British contexts from the 1880s; in the U.S. it was active as a movement in the 1890s and a generation thereafter, the name being taken again from time to time, most recently by some more liberal Democrats and other social activists, by c. 2000. The noun in the sense "one who favors social and political change in the name of progress" is first attested 1865 (originally in Christianity). Earlier in a like sense were progressionist (1849, adjective; 1884, noun), progressist (1848). Related: Progressively; progressiveness.
progressivism (n.): 1855 (from 1892 in the political sense), from progressive + -ism.
prohibit (v.): early 15c., from Latin prohibitus, past participle of prohibere "to hold back, restrain" (see prohibition). Related: Prohibited; prohibiting.
prohibition (n.): late 14c., "act of prohibiting, a forbidding by authority," from Anglo-French and Old French prohibition (early 13c.), from Latin prohibitionem (nominative prohibitio) "a hindering, forbidding; legal prohibition," noun of action from past participle stem of prohibere "hold back, restrain, hinder, prevent," from pro- "away, forth" (see pro-) + habere "to hold" (see habit (n.)). Meaning "forced alcohol abstinence" is 1851, American English; in effect nationwide in U.S. as law 1920-1933 under the Volstead Act.
People whose youth did not coincide with the twenties never had our reverence for strong drink. Older men knew liquor before it became the symbol of a sacred cause. Kids who began drinking after 1933 take it as a matter of course. ... Drinking, we proved to ourselves our freedom as individuals and flouted Congress. We conformed to a popular type of dissent -- dissent from a minority. It was the only period during which a fellow could be smug and slopped concurrently. [A.J. Liebling, "Between Meals," 1959]
Related: Prohibitionist.
prohibitive (adj.): c. 1600, "having the quality of prohibiting," from prohibit + -ive, or else from French prohibitif (16c.), from Late Latin prohibit-, past participle stem of prohibere. Of prices, rates, etc., "so high as to prevent use," it is from 1886. Related: Prohibitively.
project (n.): c. 1400, "a plan, draft, scheme," from Latin proiectum "something thrown forth," noun use of neuter of proiectus, past participle of proicere "stretch out, throw forth," from pro- "forward" (see pro-) + combining form of iacere (past participle iactus) "to throw" (see jet (v.)).

Meaning "scheme, proposal, mental plan" is from c. 1600. Meaning "group of low-rent apartment buildings" first recorded 1935, American English, short for housing project (1932). Related: Projects. Project manager attested from 1913.
project (v.): late 15c., "to plan," from Latin proiectus, past participle of proicere (see project (n.)). Sense of "to stick out" is from 1718. Meaning "to cast an image on a screen" is recorded from 1865. Psychoanalytical sense, "attribute to another (unconsciously)" is from 1895 (implied in a use of projective). Meaning "convey to others by one's manner" is recorded by 1955. Related: Projected; projecting.
projected (adj.): "planned, put forth as a project," 1706, past participle adjective from project (v.).
projectile (n.): 1660s, from Modern Latin projectilis, from Latin proiectus, past participle of proicere (see project (n.)). Projectile vomiting attested from 1985.
projection (n.): late 15c., in alchemy, "transmutation by casting a powder on molten metal; 1550s in the cartographical sense "drawing of a map or chart according to scale," from Middle French projection, from Latin proiectionem (nominative proiectio), from past participle stem of proicere (see project (n.)). From 1590s as "action of projecting."
projectionist (n.): 1916, from projection + -ist.
projector (n.): 1590s, "one who forms a project," agent noun in Latin form from project (v.). In the optical, camera sense it is from 1884.
prokaryote (n.): 1963, from French procaryote (1925), from Greek pro- (see pro-) + karyon "nut, kernel" (see karyo-).
prokaryotic (adj.): 1957, from prokaryote + -ic. Related: Prokaryon.
prolactin (n.): 1932, from pro- + stem of lactation + chemical suffix -in (2).
prolapse (v.): 1736, from Latin prolapsus, past participle of prolabi "glide forward, slide along, slip forward or down;" see pro- + lapse (n.). As a noun from 1808.