alpha privative

American  

noun

1. the prefix a- or, before a vowel, an-, used in Greek and English to express negation or absence.

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alpha privative British  

noun

1. (in Greek grammar) the letter alpha (or an- before vowels) used as a negative or privative prefix. It appears in English words derived from Greek, as in atheist, anaesthetic

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Etymology

Origin of alpha privative

First recorded in 1580–90