prefix

See also: préfix

English

Alternative forms

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

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Late Latin praefīxum, from Latin praefīxus, 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”)), equivalent to pre- +‎ -fix. Doublet of the archaic synonym prefixum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɹiːfɪks/, /pɹɛˈfɪks/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪks

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: (rare) foresyllable, (archaic) prefixum

      Antonym: suffix

      Hypernyms: (broad sense) affix, morpheme

   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 Latin.

Synonyms

• forefix (rare)

Coordinate terms

types of affixesedit

• adfix
• affix
• ambifix
• circumfix
• confix
• disfix
• duplifix
• infix
• interfix
• libfix
• postfix
• prefix
• prefixoid
• simulfix
• suffix
• suffixoid
• suprafix
• transfix

Derived terms

• metric prefix
• null prefix
• prefixal
• prefixhood
• prefixing (adj)
• prefixless, ~ness
• prefixlike
• prefixness
• prefixoid
• pseudoprefix
• SI prefix
• zero prefix

Expressions

• international call prefix
• prefix code
• prefix coding
• prefix notation
• prefix tree
• separable prefix
• ship prefix

Translations

morpheme at the beginning of a word

• Abkhaz: please add this translation if you can
• Adyghe: please add this translation if you can
• Afrikaans: voorvoegsel, prefiks
• Aghwan: please add this translation if you can
• Aklanon: please add this translation if you can
• Albanian: parashtesë (sq) f
• Arabic: سَابِقَة f (sābiqa), بَادِئَة f (bādiʔa)
• Aragonese: prefixo m
• Armenian: նախածանց (hy) (naxacancʻ)
• Asturian: prefixu (ast) m
• Belarusian: прыста́ўка f (prystáŭka)
• Bengali: উপসর্গ (bn) (upośorgo)
• Breton: rakger (br) m
• Bulgarian: предста́вка (bg) f (predstávka), префи́кс (bg) m (prefíks)
• Burmese: ရှေ့ဆက် (my) (hre.hcak)
• Catalan: prefix (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 前綴 / 前缀 (zh) (qiánzhuì), 詞頭 / 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, prefikso (eo)
• Estonian: prefiks
• Faroese: forskoyti
• Finnish: etuliite (fi), prefiksi (fi)
• French: préfixe (fr) m
• Galician: prefixo (gl) m
• Georgian: პრეფიქსი (ṗrepiksi), თავსართი (tavsarti)
• German: Präfix (de), Vorsilbe (de) f
• Greek: πρόθημα (el) n (próthima)
• Hebrew: תְּחִלִּית (he) f (tkhilít)
• Hindi: उपसर्ग (hi) m (upsarg)
• Hungarian: előtag (hu)
• Icelandic: forskeyti (is) n
• Ido: prefixo (io)
• Indonesian: awalan (id)
• Irish: réimír (ga) f
• Italian: prefisso (it) m
• Japanese: 接頭辞 (ja) (せっとうじ, settōji), 接頭語 (ja) (せっとうご, settōgo)
• Kazakh: префикс (prefiks)
• Khmer: បុព្វបទ (boppĕəʼbɑt)
• Korean: 접두사 (ko) (jeopdusa), 접두어 (jeopdueo)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: پێشگِر (ckb) (pêşgir)

  Laki Kurdish: پێشوەن (pêşwen)

  Northern Kurdish: pêşgir (ku)

• Kyrgyz: префикс (prefiks)
• Lao: ຄຳນຳໜ້າ (kham nam nā)
• Latin: praeverbium n, praefīxum n (Late)
• Latvian: priedēklis (lv) m
• Lithuanian: priešdėlis m
• Macedonian: претставка f (pretstavka), префикс m (prefiks)
• Malay: awalan (ms)
• Malayalam: ഉപസർഗം (ml) (upasaṟgaṁ)
• Maori: pīmua, kūmua
• Mongolian: угтвар (mn) (ugtvar) ᠤᠭᠲᠤᠪᠤᠷᠢ (uɣtuburi)
• Norwegian:

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

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

• Pashto: سرينه f (sariná), مختاړی m (mǝxtãṛay)
• Persian: پیشوند (fa) (pišvand)
• Plautdietsch: Väasilb f
• 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, prefix m
• Slovene: predpona (sl) f, prefiks m
• Spanish: prefijo (es) m
• Swahili: kiambishi awali
• Swedish: prefix (sv) n, förstavelse (sv) c
• Tagalog: unlapi (tl)
• Tajik: префикс (prefiks), пешванд (pešvand)
• Tamil: முன்னொட்டு (ta) (muṉṉoṭṭu)
• Thai: อุปสรรค (th) (ùp-bpà-sàk)
• Turkish: önek (tr), ön ek (tr)
• Turkmen: prefiks
• Ukrainian: пре́фікс (uk) m (préfiks)
• Urdu: سابقہ (ur)
• Uzbek: prefiks (uz)
• Vietnamese: tiền tố (vi)
• Volapük: foyümot (vo)
• Welsh: rhagddodiad (cy) m

telecommunications: set of digits placed before a telephone number

• Afrikaans: kode (af)
• Finnish: suuntanumero (fi)
• Galician: prefixo (gl) m
• Portuguese: prefixo (pt) m
• Spanish: prefijo (es) m

title added to a person's name

• Afrikaans: titel (af)
• Bulgarian: титла (bg) f (titla)
• Finnish: titteli (fi)
• French: titre (fr) m

computing: initial segment of a string of characters

• Afrikaans: prefiks
• French: préfixe (fr) m
• Polish: prefiks (pl) m

Etymology 2

From Middle English prefixen, from Middle French prefixer, from Latin praefīxus, 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”)), equivalent to pre- +‎ -fix.

Pronunciation

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

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪks

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

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

   • 2002, Thomas R. West, Signs of Struggle, page 23:

     It is important to realize that pregivenness or prefixing is a kind of anteriority that does its work in the present; subjects and meanings in part emerge in enuciative co-constitutive moments.

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

Derived terms

• prefixable
• prefixation
• prefixed, unprefixed
• prefixer, auto~

Related terms

• fix
• pre-
• prefixion (archaic)
• 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, voranstellen (de)
• Greek: προτάσσω (el) (protásso)
• Italian: prefissare (it)
• 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 (it)

See also

• Appendix:English nationality prefixes
• Category:English prefixes
• coverb

Further reading

• prefix on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “prefix”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “prefix”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Anagrams

• perfix

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin praefīxum, from Latin praefīxus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [pɾəˈfiks]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [pɾeˈfiks]

Noun

prefix m (plural prefixos)

1. prefix

Czech

Pronunciation

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

Noun

prefix m inan

1. prefix

   Synonym: předpona

Declension

Declension of prefix (hard masculine inanimate)

	singular	plural
nominative	prefix	prefixy
genitive	prefixu	prefixů
dative	prefixu	prefixům
accusative	prefix	prefixy
vocative	prefixe	prefixy
locative	prefixu	prefixech
instrumental	prefixem	prefixy

Derived terms

• prefixový

Further reading

• “prefix”, in Kartotéka Novočeského lexikálního archivu (in Czech)
• “prefix”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpreːfɪks/

• Audio:

  (file)

Etymology 1

Borrowed from post-Classical Latin praefīxum, nominal use of the neuter form of Classical Latin praefīxus, 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

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Adjective

prefix (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) fixed, predetermined

Declension

Declension 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

Occitan

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin praefīxum, from Latin praefīxus.

Noun

prefix m

1. (grammar) prefix

Related terms

• sufix

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French préfixe, from Latin praefīxus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɾeˈfiks/

Noun

prefix n (plural prefixe)

1. prefix

   Antonym: sufix

Declension

Declension of prefix

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	prefix	prefixul		prefixe	prefixele
genitive-dative	prefix	prefixului		prefixe	prefixelor
vocative	prefixule			prefixelor

Related terms

• afix
• infix

Swedish

Noun

prefix n

1. (grammar) prefix

Declension

Declension of prefix

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	prefix	prefix
	definite	prefixet	prefixets
plural	indefinite	prefix	prefix
	definite	prefixen	prefixens