prefix

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

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.

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɹiːfɪks/, /pɹɛˈfɪks/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪks

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

      • 2022 November 18, Ian Sample, “Earth weighs in at six ronnagrams as new prefixes picked for big and small”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

        The chosen prefixes won the vote in part because they start with the only two letters left in the alphabet that are not already used in measurement. The b for “bronto” is already used for bytes and h for “hella” is used for hecto, the prefix for 100.

   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".

• 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.

• forefix (rare)

From Middle English prefixen, from Middle French prefixer,^[1] 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.

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

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪks

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.]

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

• 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.

• perfix

Borrowed from Late Latin praefīxum, from Latin praefīxus.

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

prefix m (plural prefixos)

1. prefix

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

prefix m inan

1. prefix

   Synonym: předpona

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

• IPA^(key): /ˈpreːfɪks/

• Audio:

  (file)

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.

• praefix (archaic)

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

1. prefix

   Synonym: voorvoegsel

   Antonyms: suffix, achtervoegsel

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

prefix (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) fixed, predetermined

Borrowed from Late Latin praefīxum, from Latin praefīxus.

prefix m

1. (grammar) prefix

• sufix

Borrowed from French préfixe, from Latin praefīxus.

• IPA^(key): /pɾeˈfiks/

prefix n (plural prefixe)

1. prefix

   Antonym: sufix

prefix n

1. (grammar) prefix