Wiktionary

pre-

See also: Appendix:Variations of "pre"

English edit

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

From Middle English pre-, borrowed from Latin prae-, from the preposition prae (“before”).

Pronunciation edit

  • (UK) IPA(key): /pɹiː/
  • (US) IPA(key): /pɹi/, /pɹɪ/
  • Audio (US)(file)

Prefix edit

pre-

  2. Before; physically in front of; (anatomy) anterior.
  4. Before; earlier in time; beforehand.

Usage notes edit

  • This prefix is usually prefixed to words without using a hyphen (for example, prefix, predate). A hyphen is used in the following cases:
    • Where excluding a hyphen would be likely to lead to a mispronunciation of the word because "pre" appears not to be a complete syllable (for example, "pre-yaw course", which could be read as "prey aw course" if unhyphenated).
    • Always in British English before the letter e (for example, pre-existing)
    • Often in British English before other vowels (for example, pre-operative);
    • Always in all varieties of English before a character other than a letter (for example, pre-1960).

Synonyms edit

Antonyms edit

Derived terms edit

English terms prefixed with pre-
terms derived from pre-

Translations edit

See also edit

Further reading edit

Anagrams edit

Catalan edit

Etymology edit

From Latin prae- (“before”).

Prefix edit

pre-

  1. before; used to form words meaning "in front of" or "before"
  2. before; used to form words meaning superiority or excellence

Derived terms edit

Catalan terms prefixed with pre-

Further reading edit

Galician edit

Etymology edit

From Latin prae- (“before”).

Prefix edit

pre-

  1. pre-

Derived terms edit

From

Galician terms prefixed with pre-

.

Further reading edit

Ido edit

Etymology edit

Borrowed from English pre-, French pré-, Italian pre-, Spanish pre-, Russian пред- (pred-), пре- (pre-).

Prefix edit

pre-

  1. pre-

Derived terms edit

Ido terms prefixed with pre-

Italian edit

Etymology edit

From Latin prae- (“before”).

Prefix edit

pre-

  1. pre-

Derived terms edit

Italian terms prefixed with pre-
Derived terms

Anagrams edit

Latin edit

Prefix edit

prē-

  1. (Medieval Latin) Alternative form of prae-

Derived terms edit

Latin terms prefixed with pre-

Norwegian Bokmål edit

Etymology edit

From Latin prae.

Prefix edit

pre-

  1. pre-

Derived terms edit

Norwegian Bokmål terms prefixed with pre-

References edit

Norwegian Nynorsk edit

Etymology edit

From Latin prae.

Prefix edit

pre-

  1. pre-

Derived terms edit

Norwegian Nynorsk terms prefixed with pre-

References edit

Polish edit

Pronunciation edit

Prefix edit

pre-

  1. pre-

Derived terms edit

Polish terms prefixed with pre-

Further reading edit

  • pre- in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese edit

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

From Latin prae-.

Prefix edit

pre-

  1. pre- (before)

Derived terms edit

Portuguese terms prefixed with pre-

Romanian edit

Alternative forms edit

Pronunciation edit

Etymology 1 edit

Inherited from Latin per-, with a few cases influenced by prae. Doublet of prea-.

Prefix edit

pre-

  1. used with verbs to indicate repetition or insistence

Examples: presăra, prelinge. Compare also prevedea, priveghea

Etymology 2 edit

Borrowed from French pre-, Latin prae-.

  1. pre-

Synonyms edit

Derived terms edit

Romanian terms prefixed with pre-

Serbo-Croatian edit

Etymology edit

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *per-.

Prefix edit

pre- (Cyrillic spelling пре-)

  1. Prefix prepended to adjectives and adverbs to denote excess of a feature; too, excessively, over-
    dug / predug ― long / overlong
  2. Prefix prepended to verbs to indicate an action being done excessively, again or differently; re-, over-
    trpati / pretrpati ― to stuff / to overstuff
  3. Prefix prepended to verbs to indicate change in form, especially through partition
    prepoloviti ― split up
  4. Prefix prepended to imperfective verbs to make them perfective; to indicate that the action has been carried out
    Spavat ću u hotelu. Prespavao sam u hotelu. ― I will sleep in a hotel. I slept (over) in a hotel.

Usage notes edit

The suffix matches the usage of all mentioned prefixes in English for all adjectives and majority of verbs. When "pre-" may cause confusion or cannot be prefixed to a verb in order to indicate repetition, opet or ponovo ("again" / "anew") followed by the verb construction is used instead, e.g. "redo" would be "ponovno uraditi" ("do again") rather than preraditi ("rework").

Slovene edit

Etymology edit

From Proto-Slavic *per-.

Pronunciation edit

Prefix edit

pre-

  1. Forms perfective verbs with the following meanings:
    1. (no change in meaning)
      ‎pre- + ‎zráčiti (“to ventilate”) → ‎prezráčiti (“to ventilate”)
    2. through, across
      ‎pre- + ‎grísti (“to bite”) → ‎pregrísti (“to bite through”)
    3. re-, again
      ‎pre- + ‎bȃrvati (“to paint”) → ‎prebȃrvati (“to repaint”)
    4. over-, too much
      ‎pre- + ‎plačáti (“to pay”) → ‎preplačáti (“to overpay”)
    5. for a certain time
      ‎pre- + ‎sedẹ́ti (“to sit”) → ‎presedẹ́ti (“to sit for a certain time”)

Derived terms edit

Slovene terms prefixed with pre-

Spanish edit

Etymology edit

Borrowed from Latin prae- (“before”), from the Latin preposition prae.

Prefix edit

pre-

  1. pre-
    Antonyms: post-, pos-

Derived terms edit

Spanish terms prefixed with pre-

Further reading edit

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