prefix

See also: préfix

Contents

English

Alternative forms

• præfix (obsolete)
• prefixe (for the verb; obsolete)

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French prefixer (verb) resp. Late Latin praefixum (noun), both from Latin praefixus, past participle of praefīgō (“I (fix, fasten, set up) in front”, “I fix on the (end, extremity)”) (from prae- (“before”) + fīgō (“I fix”, “I fasten”, “I affix”)).

Pronunciation

• (noun) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹiːfɪks/
• (verb) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹiːfɪks/, /pɹiːˈfɪks/, /pɹɛˈfɪks/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

prefix (plural prefixes)

1. Something placed before another
   1. (grammar, linguistic morphology) A morpheme added to the beginning of a word to modify its meaning, for example as, pre- in prefix, con- in conjure, re- in reheat, etc.

      Synonyms: foresyllable (rare), prefixum (archaic)

      Antonym: suffix

      Hypernym: affix (broad sense)

   2. (telecommunications) A set of digits placed before a telephone number, to indicate where the number is based, what type of phone number it is (landline, mobile, toll-free, premium rate etc.)

      in the UK, a number with an 0800 prefix is a toll-free number.

      Add the prefix +34 to dial a Spanish number from abroad

   3. A title added to a person's name, such as Mr. or Dr.
   4. (computing) An initial segment of a string of characters.

      The string "abra" is both a prefix and a suffix of the string "abracadabra".

Usage notes

• Though much less common, a plural form prefices is seen as well, apparently formed by analogy with index–indices, appendix–appendices, and so on, but it is not a standard plural and has no basis in the Latin origin of the term.

Synonyms

• forefix (rare)

Derived terms

• prefixal
• prefixation

 

Translations

morpheme at the beginning of a word

• Arabic: سَابِقَة‎ f (sābiqa), بَادِئَة‎ f (bādiʾa)
• Aragonese: prefixo m
• Armenian: նախածանց (hy) (naxacancʿ)
• Asturian: prefixu (ast) m
• Belarusian: прыста́ўка f (prystáŭka)
• Bulgarian: предста́вка f (predstávka), префи́кс (bg) m (prefíks)
• Catalan: prefix (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 前綴 (zh), 前缀 (zh) (qiánzhuì), 詞頭 (zh), 词头 (zh) (cítóu)

• Czech: předpona (cs) f, prefix (cs) m
• Danish: præfiks (da) n
• Dutch: voorvoegsel (nl) n, prefix (nl) n
• Esperanto: antaŭafikso, antaŭvortero (eo), prefikso
• Estonian: prefiks
• Finnish: prefiksi (fi), etuliite (fi)
• French: préfixe (fr) m
• Galician: prefixo m
• Georgian: პრეფიქსი (ṗrepiksi), თავსართი (tavsarti)
• German: Präfix (de), Vorsilbe (de) f
• Greek: πρόθημα (el) n (próthima)
• Hindi: उपसर्ग (hi) m (upsarg)
• Hungarian: előtag
• Ido: prefixo (io)
• Irish: réimír (ga) f
• Italian: prefisso (it) m
• Japanese: 接頭辞 (ja) (せっとうじ, settōji)
• Korean: 접두사 (ko) (jeopdusa)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: پێشگِر‎ (pêşgir)

• Lao: ຄໍານໍາຫນ້າ (khoa noa na)

• Latin: praeverbium n, praefīxum n (Late)
• Latvian: priedēklis m
• Lithuanian: priešdėlis m
• Macedonian: пре́тставка f (prétstavka), пре́фикс m (préfiks)
• Maori: pīmua, kūmua
• Mongolian: угтвар (mn) (ugtvar)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: prefiks (no) n, forstavelse m, forstaving m or f

  Nynorsk: prefiks n, førefeste n, forled m, førelekk m, forstaving f, førestaving f

• Persian: پیشوند‎ (fa) (pišvand)
• Polish: przedrostek (pl) m, prefiks (pl) m
• Portuguese: prefixo (pt) m
• Romanian: prefix (ro) n
• Russian: приста́вка (ru) f (pristávka), пре́фикс (ru) m (préfiks)
• Scottish Gaelic: ro-leasachan m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: прѐфикс m, пре́дметак m

  Roman: prèfiks (sh) m, prédmetak (sh) m

• Slovak: predpona f
• Slovene: predpona (sl) f, prefiks m
• Spanish: prefijo (es) m
• Swedish: prefix (sv) n, förstavelse (sv) c
• Tagalog: unlapi (tl)
• Tamil: முன்னொட்டு (ta) (muṉṉoṭṭu)
• Thai: อุปสรรค (th) (ùp-bpà-sàk)
• Turkish: önek (tr), ön ek (tr)
• Ukrainian: пре́фікс (uk) m (préfiks)
• Vietnamese: tiền tố (vi)
• Volapük: foyümot (vo)
• Welsh: rhagddodiad (cy) m

Verb

prefix (third-person singular simple present prefixes, present participle prefixing, simple past and past participle prefixed)

1. (transitive) To determine beforehand; to set in advance. [from 15^thc.]
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter j, in Le Morte Darthur, book XXI:

     he took the Quene Gueneuer and sayd playnly that he wolde wedde hyr / whyche was his vnkyls wyf and his faders wyf / And soo he made redy for the feest / And a day prefyxt that they shold be wedded / wherfore quene Gweneuer was passyng huey / But she durst not dyscouer hyr herte

   • 1603, John Florio, transl.; Michel de Montaigne, chapter 40, in The Essayes, […], book I, printed at London: By Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821:

     But the danger was, that a man can hardly prefix any certaine limits unto his desire […].

2. (transitive) To put or fix before, or at the beginning of something; to place at the start. [from 16^thc.]

Related terms

• fix
• pre-
• prepend

 

Translations

put or fix before, or at the beginning of

• Dutch: voorvoegen
• Esperanto: prefiksi
• French: préfixer (fr)
• German: präfigieren (linguistics), mit einem Präfix versehen

• Greek: προτάσσω (el) (protásso)
• Italian: prefissare
• Portuguese: prefixar

set or appoint beforehand

• Dutch: op (nl) voorhand (nl) vastleggen (nl), arrangeren (nl), regelen (nl)
• French: préfixer (fr)

• Greek: προτάσσω (el) (protásso)
• Italian: prefissare

See also

• Category:English prefixes

Further reading

• prefix on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• prefix in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• prefix in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• perfix

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Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin praefixum, from Latin praefixus.

Noun

prefix m (plural prefixos)

1. prefix

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Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈprɛfɪks]
• Rhymes: -ɪks
• Hyphenation: pre‧fix

Noun

prefix m inan

1. prefix

   Synonym: předpona

Derived terms

• prefixový

Further reading

• prefix in Kartotéka Novočeského lexikálního archivu
• prefix in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpreːfɪks/

• Audio

  (file)

Etymology 1

Borrowed from post-Classical Latin praefixum, nominal use of the neuter form of Classical Latin praefixus, past participle of praefīgō (“I (fix, fasten, set up) in front”, “I fix on the (end, extremity)”) — the noun directly thence, whereas the adjective via French préfixe.

Alternative forms

• praefix (archaic)

Noun

prefix n or m (plural prefixen, diminutive prefixje n)

1. prefix

   Synonym: voorvoegsel

   Antonyms: suffix, achtervoegsel

Etymology 2

Adjective

prefix (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) fixed, predetermined

Inflection

Inflection of prefix
uninflected	prefix
inflected	prefixe
comparative	—
		positive
predicative/adverbial		prefix
indefinite	m./f. sing.	prefixe
	n. sing.	prefix
	plural	prefixe
definite		prefixe
partitive		prefix

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Occitan

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin praefixum, from Latin praefixus

Noun

prefix m

1. (grammar) prefix

Related terms

• sufix

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Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French préfixe, from Latin praefixus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɾeˈfiks/

Noun

prefix n (plural prefixe)

1. prefix

   Antonym: suffix

Declension

declension of prefix

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) prefix	prefixul	(niște) prefixe	prefixele
genitive/dative	(unui) prefix	prefixului	(unor) prefixe	prefixelor
vocative	prefixule		prefixelor

Related terms

• afix
• infix