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prefix

[ noun pree-fiks; verb pree-fiks for 3, 4, 6; pree-fiks for 5 ]
/ noun ˈpri fɪks; verb ˈpri fɪks for 3, 4, 6; priˈfɪks for 5 /
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See synonyms for: prefix / prefixed / prefixes / prefixing on Thesaurus.com

noun
Grammar. an affix placed before a word, base, or another prefix to modify a term's meaning, as by making the term negative, as un- in unkind, by signaling repetition, as re- in reinvent, or by indicating support, as pro- in proabolition. Compatible prefixes can work together, as un- and re- in unrefundable.
something prefixed, as a title before a person's name: She uses the prefix “Ms.” rather than "Mrs."
verb (used with object)
to fix or put before or in front: to prefix an impressive title to one's name.
Grammar. to add as a prefix.
to fix, settle, or determine beforehand: If you call a taxi, the rate to the airport will be prefixed.
Biology. to apply the first of two fixatives to.
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Origin of prefix

First recorded in 1375–1425 for verb; 1640–50 for noun; late Middle English verb prefixen, prefyxe, from Middle French prefixer, from Latin praefixus, past participle of praefīgere “to set up in front”; English noun praefix, prefix, from New Latin praefixum, neuter of praefixus; see pre-, fix

grammar notes for prefix

A prefix is one kind of affix. An affix is an element that, although not a word itself, can be bound to a word, or to the base or stem of a word, to form a derivative with a related meaning. Entire families of related words can be derived from an existing word in this way.
Although linguists sometimes divide the subject more finely, there are essentially three kinds of affix —the prefix, attached to the beginning (as un- in unconscious ), the infix, inserted in the middle, and the suffix, tacked on at the end (as -ness, in consciousness ). Note the lack of an example for infix. Standard English—unlike some other languages—does not use infixes, unless we count isolated instances of tmesis, where instead of an affix, an entire word is inserted, as in the playful “abso-bloomin'-lutely” in the lyrics of “Wouldn't It Be Loverly?”—a song from the musical My Fair Lady. (“Bloomin'” is probably a euphemism; other tmetic insertions are more often than not obscene.) But one-shot nonce words such as “abso-bloomin'-lutely” are neither added to the language nor found in standard dictionaries of English. On the other hand, both prefixes and suffixes are highly productive derivational forms, constantly in use to form new English words.
A few of the most productive English prefixes are anti-, non-, pre-, re-, sub-, and un-. They are so common that some print dictionaries show simple lists, without definitions, of words that have been formed with them—taking it for granted that their meanings are obvious. Here at Dictionary.com, however, such terms, when not given entries and definitions of their own, are shown with other related forms at the bottom of the entry for the word on which the derivative is based. Thus a query for unacetic will take you automatically to acetic, helping you to understand your queried word without having to look up its bits and pieces separately.
The grammatical term prefix itself has the prefix pre-; in this case, pre- means “before; preceding” and one meaning of fix is “to attach or place.” A word can have more than one prefix, like un- and re- in unremarkable. And a prefix can be used in combination with one or more suffixes. A simple example is reactivate, which has the prefix re- “again” added to the verb activate. Activate, in turn, is composed of the adjective active “engaged in action” and the suffix -ate, used to form verbs. Activate means “to make something active; cause it to function.” To reactivate is to do this again. But we must exercise some care in our analysis of words that are new to us; a casual glance at word formations may be deceptive. For example, to capitulate is “to surrender.” But recapitulate does not mean “to surrender again.” It means “to summarize.” In addition, some prefixes have more than one meaning. For example, if you look up un- in Dictionary.com, you'll find two entries. The first, un-1, means “not” (as in unafraid and unsettled ), the second, un-2, reverses the meaning of the verb it is attached to, as in unzip or in the social media term unfriend.
But the most common problem with words formed with prefixes is determining whether or not to hyphenate between the prefix and the base word. Luckily, there are some guidelines. In general, there is no hyphen ( nonstarter, postcranial, unemployment, antievolution ). However, hyphenating is mandatory when the prefix is followed by a capital letter ( anti-Nazi, pre-Columbian ). We also hyphenate when a prefix that ends in a or i precedes a word starting with the same letter ( ultra-abysmal, anti-inflation ). However, words formed with prefixes ending in e or o followed by the same letter are in a state of flux ( cooperate and co-operate are variants, as are preeminent and pre-eminent ), but the solid form is increasingly more frequent. At the same time, certain words must be hyphenated to avoid ambiguity or misreading. re-sign (to sign again) is different from resign (to give up an office or position), and re-ink (to apply ink again) would look like some strange one-syllable word if spelled reink.
But the easiest rule to remember may be this: when you are not sure whether to hyphenate a particular word, it is best to look it up.

OTHER WORDS FROM prefix

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH prefix

prix fixe, prefix
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

MORE ABOUT PREFIX

What is a prefix?

A prefix is a type of affix that appears at the beginning of a word and modifies its meaning, such as the re– in redo.

An affix is a word element that is added to the base of a word to create a new word. A prefix comes at the beginning of the word.

Some of the most common prefixes are ones that change a word with a positive meaning into one with a negative meaning, such as un-, in-, and dis-. For example, when we add un– to acceptable, we get the word unacceptable, which means not acceptable.

When attaching a prefix to a word, the spelling of the original word doesn’t change, even if it creates a double letter, as in irreplaceable and preexist. However, words that would have a double a or i are often hyphenated, as in ultra-aware and anti-inflammatory.

When we add a prefix to a capitalized word, we also use a hyphen, as in pre-Rome and non-French. The prefixes self– and ex– (meaning former) also use hyphens, as in self-interest and ex-wife.

Finally, hyphens are used to prevent confusion if a prefix would cause a word to resemble another word with a different meaning. For example, re-tread means to tread again, while retread means to put a new tread on a tire.

Why is prefix important?

The first records of the term prefix as a noun come from around 1640. It ultimately comes from the Latin praefixus, the past participle of the verb praefīgere, meaning “to set up in front.” Prefixes are always placed in front of words to alter their meanings.

Prefixes are one of the three types of affixes. The other major affix used in English is the suffix, which is placed at the end of a word, as with –ly in kindly. The third type of affix is called an infix and is placed in the middle of a word. Infixes are not used in Standard English, though they are used in other languages. Infixes are occasionally used in casual English for emphasis, as Eliza Doolittle does in My Fair Lady with abso-bloomin-lutely.

Sometimes, a word can have multiple prefixes if they are compatible with each other, such as unremarkable (un– and re-) and rediscount (re– and dis-). Words can also have both a prefix and a suffix or multiples of each, as in the word antidisestablishmentarianism (anti-, dis-, –ment, –arian, –ism).

Did you know … ?

Interestingly, the word prefix itself has a prefix in it. Pre means “before.” The older verb use of prefix means “to fix before” or “to fix beforehand.”

What are real-life examples of prefix?

There are lots of prefixes in English. The following table gives examples of just some prefixes and words that contain them.

mis-: wrong, incorrect misunderstand, misremember
intro-: within, inwardly introvert, introspect
syn-: together synchronize, syndrome
over-: too much, excess overestimate, overcharge
anti-: opposed to, against antisocial, antigovernment

 

Many of the words we use have prefixes, and we sometimes talk about them.

 

What other words are related to prefix?

Quiz yourself!

True or False?

A prefix comes at the beginning of a word and modifies the word’s meaning.

How to use prefix in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for prefix

prefix

noun (ˈpriːfɪks)
grammar an affix that precedes the stem to which it is attached, as for example un- in unhappyCompare suffix (def. 1)
something coming or placed before
verb (priːˈfɪks, ˈpriːfɪks) (tr)
to put or place before
grammar to add (a morpheme) as a prefix to the beginning of a word

Derived forms of prefix

prefixal (ˈpriːfɪksəl, priːˈfɪks-), adjectiveprefixally, adverbprefixion (priːˈfɪkʃən), noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for prefix

prefix

Letters placed in front of a word to form a new word: “trimonthly,” “semimonthly,” “bilingual,” “multilingual,” “address,” “redress,” “predate,” “postdate.” (Compare suffix.)

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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