means the quality of being careful and sensible, especially in managing practical affairs and avoiding needless risk.

from From Latin prudentia, 'foresight, sagacity, knowledge of things to come' — itself a worn-down form of providentia ('foreseeing,' the same root that gives us 'providence'). At its heart sits the verb providere, 'to see ahead' (pro-, 'before,' + videre, 'to see'). So prudence began life literally as the gift of looking forward; it reached English through Old French in the 14th century, the abstract noun of an already-existing 'prudent' person.