"apparatus, usually in the shape of a very large umbrella, carried in an aircraft, that may allow a person or thing to drop to the surface below without injury or damage," 1784 (the year the first use of one was attempted, in Paris), from French parachute, literally "that which protects against a fall," hybrid coined by French aeronaut François Blanchard (1753-1809) from para- "defense against" (see para- (2)) + chute "a fall" (see chute).

PARACHUTE, a kind of large and strong umbrella, contrived to break a person's fall from an airballoon, should any accident happen to the balloon at a high elevation. ["Supplement to the Encyclopaedia or Dictionary of Arts and Sciences," Philadelphia, 1803]

1580s, "wall or rampart rising breast-high," from French parapet "breastwork" (16c.), or directly from Italian parapetto, from para- "defense" (see para- (2)) + petto "breast," from Latin pectus (see pectoral (adj.)). Meaning "low wall at the edge of a structure to keep people from falling off" is from 1590s.

"light, portable screen or canopy carried to shield from the sun," 1610s, from French parasol (1570s), from Italian parasole, literally "protection from the sun," from para- "defense against" (see para- (2)) + sole "sun," from Latin solem (nominative sol; from PIE root *sawel- "the sun"). Originally used by persons of high rank in the East and by fashionable women in Europe.

c. 1200, palefrei (mid-12c. as a surname), "saddle horse for ordinary riding (opposed to a war horse), a fine, small horse for ladies," from Old French palefroi (11c., palefreid) and directly from Medieval Latin palafredus, altered by dissimilation from Late Latin paraveredus "post horse for outlying districts" (6c.), originally "extra horse," from Greek para "beside, secondary" (see para-) + Medieval Latin veredus "post horse; light, fast horse used by couriers," which is probably from Gaulish *voredos, from Celtic *wo-red- (source also of Welsh gorwydd "horse," Old Irish riadaim "I ride"), from PIE root *reidh- "to ride" (see ride (v.)). The Latin word passed to Old High German as pfarifrid, and in modern German it has become the usual word for "horse" (Pferd).

c. 1300, palesie, "weakness, numbness, paralysis, loss of ability to speak, failure of a part of the body to function properly," from Anglo-French parlesie, Old French paralisie, from Vulgar Latin *paralysia, from Latin paralysis, from Greek paralysis "paralysis, palsy," literally "loosening," from paralyein "disable, enfeeble," from para- "beside" (see para- (1)) + lyein "loosen, untie" (from PIE root *leu- "to loosen, divide, cut apart"). A doublet of paralysis.

"allegorical or metaphorical narrative, usually having a moral for instruction," late 13c., parabol, modern form from early 14c., "saying or story in which something is expressed in terms of something else," from Old French parable "parable, parabolic style in writing" (13c.), from Latin parabola "comparison," from Greek parabolē "a comparison, parable," literally "a throwing beside," hence "a juxtaposition," from para- "alongside" (see para- (1)) + bolē "a throwing, casting, beam, ray," related to ballein "to throw" (from PIE root *gwele- "to throw, reach").

Rendered in Old English as bispell. In Vulgar Latin, parabola took on the meaning "word," hence Italian parlare, French parler "to speak" (see parley (n.)).

"surgical perforation of a cavity of the body for the purpose of evacuation of effused fluid," 1590s, from the medical Latin form of Greek parakentēsis "perforation," from parakentein "to tap," literally "to pierce at the side," from para- "beside" (see para- (1)) + kentein "to prick, stab" (see center (n.)).

"error in chronology by which an event has assigned to it a date later than the proper one," 1640s, from para- "beside, beyond" + Latinized form of Greek khronos "time" (see chrono-) + -ism. 

mid-15c., Paraclit, a title of the Holy Spirit, from Old French paraclet (13c.), from Medieval Latin paracletus, from a Church Latin rendering of Greek paraklētos "advocate, intercessor, legal assistant," noun use of an adjective meaning "called to one's aid," from parakalein "to call to one's aid," in later use "to comfort, to console," from para (see para- (1)) + kalein "to call" (from PIE root *kele- (2) "to shout").

[I]n the widest sense, a helper, succorer, aider, assistant; so of the Holy Spirit destined to take the place of Christ with the apostles (after his ascension to the Father), to lead them to a deeper knowledge of gospel truth, and to give them the divine strength needed to enable them to undergo trials and persecutions on behalf of the divine kingdom .... [Thayer, "A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament," 1889]

But also sometimes translated in English bibles as Advocate, on the notion of "intercession." The word was earlier borrowed directly from Latin as paraclitus (early 13c.).

late 15c., "an example, a model," from Late Latin paradigma "pattern, example," especially in grammar, from Greek paradeigma "pattern, model; precedent, example," from paradeiknynai "exhibit, represent," literally "show side by side," from para- "beside" (see para- (1)) + deiknynai "to show" (cognate with Latin dicere "to show;" from PIE root *deik- "to show," also "pronounce solemnly"). In 20c. it began to be used in the more specific philosophical sense of "logical or conceptual structure serving as a form of thought within a given area of experience," especially in Thomas Kuhn's "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" (1962). Related: Paradigmatic; paradigmatical.