é-

See also: Appendix:Variations of "e"

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French es-, from Latin ex-, ē-.

Pronunciation

Prefix

é-

  1. prefix indicating away, moving away from; sometimes used as an intensifier, for example in écru

Derived terms

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɛ́-/

Prefix

é-

  1. (disjunct prefix of position I); postpositional prefix meaning “about”, “concerning”; is often found in contraction with ná- (around, reversionary) as (b)éé-, where it converges in shape with (against)
    ► Navajo terms prefixed with é- (postpositional)

Old Irish

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *an-, from Proto-Indo-European *n̥-.

Prefix

é-

  1. alternative form of an- (un-, non-)
    é- + ‎trom (heavy) → ‎étrum (light, literally unheavy)
    é- + ‎cubus (conscience) → ‎écubus (bad faith, literally non-conscience)
    é- + ‎cosmail (like, similar) → ‎écsamail (dissimilar, different)

Usage notes

Used before c and t, which undergo eclipsis (nasalization) to be pronounced /ɡ/ and /d/. However, the basic form an- is also sometimes found in this context.[1]

Derived terms

Old Irish terms prefixed with é-

Descendants

  • Irish: éa-
  • Scottish Gaelic: eu-

References

  1. ^ Thurneysen, Rudolf (1940) [1909] D. A. Binchy and Osborn Bergin, transl., A Grammar of Old Irish, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, translation of Handbuch des Alt-Irischen (in German), →ISBN, § 872, page 544; reprinted 2017