for-
English
editEtymology 1
editFrom Middle English for-, vor-, ver-, from Old English for-, fer-, fær-, fyr- (“far, away, completely”, prefix), from the merger of Proto-Germanic *fra- ("away, away from"; see fro, from) and Proto-Germanic *fur-, *far- (“through, completely, fully”), from Proto-Indo-European *pro-, *per-, *pr-. Cognate with Scots for-, West Frisian fer-, for-, Dutch ver-, German ver-, Swedish för-, Danish for-, Norwegian for-, Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌰- (fra-), Latin pro-. More at for.
Pronunciation
edit- (stressed form) IPA(key): /fɔː(ɹ)/
- (unstressed form) IPA(key): /fə(ɹ)/
Prefix
editfor-
- (no longer productive) Forth: prefixed to verbs to indicate a direction of 'away', 'off', 'forth'.
- (no longer productive) Exhausting: prefixed to verbs with the sense of wearing or exhausting one's self.
- (no longer productive) Destructively: prefixed to verbs with the sense of destruction or pain.
- (no longer productive) Wrongly: prefixed to verbs with the sense of wrongly, amorally.
- forteach is to misteach, forswear is to commit perjury, forworship is to worship wrongly, forlead is to mislead, forlive is to live pervertedly
- (no longer productive) Neglectfully: prefixed to verbs with the sense of abstaining from or neglecting.
- (no longer productive) Very: intensifying adjectives.
- forblack is extremely black, forswollen is excessively swollen
- (no longer productive) Making: prefixed to verbs to indicate the subject takes the character of the verb.
- (no longer productive) Excessively: prefixed to verbs with the sense of doing so in excessive or overwhelm.
- (no longer productive) Excluding: prefixed to verbs to give the sense of prohibition or exclusion.
- (no longer productive) Intensively
- (no longer productive) Thoroughly: prefixed to verbs with the sense of thoroughly, all over.
Derived terms
editReferences
edit“for-”, in OED Online , Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
Etymology 2
editFrom Old English for-, which is identical with the preposition "for". In "Old English and Middle English it occurs frequently as a variant of fore- prefix, with the senses ‘before’, ‘in front’, ‘on behalf of’, etc.; cf. Old English for-, forecuman to come before, Middle English forganger and foreganger n."[1]
Prefix
editfor-
- Alternative form of fore-.
Etymology 3
edit"Occurring only in words adopted from French, as forcatch v., forfeit n., forprise n., represents Old French for-, fors-, identical with fors adv. (modern French hors) outside, out."[2]
Alternative forms
editPrefix
editfor-
- (rare) Outside, out.
References
edit- ^ Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. “for- (prefix2),” March 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/1183476270.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. “for- (prefix3),” September 2023, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/8923913950.
See also
editAnagrams
editDanish
editEtymology
editFrom Old Norse for-, from Proto-Germanic *fra-.
Prefix
editfor-
- Makes verbs from adjectives meaning "to cause to be [adjective]".
- Denotes initial or preparatory action; pre-.
- for- + bore (“drill”) → forbore (“drill a hole for screwing”)
- for- + arbejde (“work”) → forarbejde (“preparatory work”)
Usage notes
editThis element appears in a great number of adapted loanwords from German, Low German and Dutch, to render ver- or vor-, such as in fordærve (“to decay, to rot”). In these cases, it may represent senses that are no longer, or never were, productive in Danish.
Derived terms
editFurther reading
edit- “for-” in Den Danske Ordbog
Esperanto
editEtymology
editSee for.
Pronunciation
editPrefix
editfor-
- Movement to a distance.
- Disappearance or annihilation.
Derived terms
editFrench
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editInherited from Middle French [Term?], from Old French for-, partially from Late Latin forīs, taken as an adaptation of the adverb forīs (“outdoors, outside”) and used to calque Frankish words prefixed by *fur- (“for-”) (compare Late Latin foris faciō (“to do wrong”) = Old High German firwirken (“to do wrong”), forisfactus (“evil deed”) = Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌷𐍄𐍃 (frawaurhts, “evil deed”), foris coⁿsilio (“to mislead”) = Old High German firleitan (“to mislead”), etc.), and partially continuing from Proto-Germanic *fur-, *fer-, *fra- (“away, from, off”), from Proto-Indo-European *pro-, *per-, *pr-. See for-. Related to French fors (“except”), French hors (“outside”).
Pronunciation
editPrefix
editfor-
- (nonproductive) prefix used to express error, exclusion, or inadequacy
Related terms
editIcelandic
editEtymology
editFrom Old Norse for-, from Proto-Germanic *fra-.
Prefix
editfor-
Derived terms
editIrish
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editFrom Proto-Celtic *uɸor-.
Prefix
editfor-
Derived terms
editMutation
editradical | lenition | eclipsis |
---|---|---|
for- | fhor- | bhfor- |
Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.
Further reading
edit- Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “for-”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
Middle English
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editFrom Old English for-, from Proto-West Germanic *fra-, from Proto-Germanic *fra-, from Proto-Indo-European *pro-.
The Old English prefix was reinforced by Proto-West Germanic *furi-, from Proto-Germanic *furi-; In Middle English, this prefix is further reinforced by Old French for-, from Latin foris.
Pronunciation
editPrefix
editfor-
- Forms verbs meaning "far", "out" or with an intensive sense; for-.
- Forms verbs denoting a failure or error; for-.
- (no longer productive) Forms nouns with varying sense.
Derived terms
editDescendants
editReferences
edit- “for-, pref.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
- “for-, pref.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Norwegian Bokmål
editPrefix
editfor-
Synonyms
edit- (before): fore-
Derived terms
editOld English
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editFrom Proto-West Germanic *fra-.
Pronunciation
editPrefix
editfor-
- wrongly, away from, astray, abstention, prohibition, perversion, destruction (verbal prefix)
- forwyrcan ― to do wrong, sin
- forstandan ― to defend, protect, stand for
- forweorpan ― to throw away, cast away, reject
- forstelan ― to steal away, deprive
- fordēman ― to condemn
- forlǣdan ― to mislead; seduce
- used to create intensified adjectives and verbs from other adjectives and verbs, with the sense of completely or fully; compare Modern English use of up
- forblāwan ― to blow up, inflate
- forbrecan ― to break up, break into pieces
- forstoppian ― to stop up, block, occlude
- forworen ― decayed, decrepit
- very
- forlȳtel ― very little
Usage notes
edit- This prefix was almost always unstressed, in both nouns and verbs.
Derived terms
editDescendants
editOld Irish
editEtymology
editFrom Proto-Celtic *uɸor-. Prefix form of for.
Prefix
editfor-
Derived terms
editOld Saxon
editPrefix
editfor-
- Alternative form of far-
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *pro-
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms inherited from Proto-Indo-European
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English prefixes
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with rare senses
- English unproductive prefixes
- Danish terms inherited from Old Norse
- Danish terms derived from Old Norse
- Danish terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Danish terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Danish lemmas
- Danish prefixes
- Esperanto terms with IPA pronunciation
- Esperanto lemmas
- Esperanto prefixes
- French terms inherited from Middle French
- French terms derived from Middle French
- French terms inherited from Old French
- French terms derived from Old French
- French terms inherited from Late Latin
- French terms derived from Late Latin
- French terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- French terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- French 1-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French lemmas
- French prefixes
- Icelandic terms inherited from Old Norse
- Icelandic terms derived from Old Norse
- Icelandic terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Icelandic terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Icelandic lemmas
- Icelandic prefixes
- Irish terms inherited from Proto-Celtic
- Irish terms derived from Proto-Celtic
- Irish lemmas
- Irish prefixes
- Middle English terms inherited from Old English
- Middle English terms derived from Old English
- Middle English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- Middle English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- Middle English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Middle English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Middle English terms inherited from Proto-Indo-European
- Middle English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Middle English terms derived from Old French
- Middle English terms derived from Latin
- Middle English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English prefixes
- Norwegian Bokmål lemmas
- Norwegian Bokmål prefixes
- Old English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Old English terms inherited from Proto-Indo-European
- Old English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- Old English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- Old English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Old English lemmas
- Old English prefixes
- Old English terms with usage examples
- Old Irish terms inherited from Proto-Celtic
- Old Irish terms derived from Proto-Celtic
- Old Irish lemmas
- Old Irish prefixes
- Old Saxon lemmas
- Old Saxon prefixes