pre-
English
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editFrom Middle English pre-, borrowed from Latin prae-, from the preposition prae (“before”).
Pronunciation
editPrefix
editpre-
- Before; physically in front of; (anatomy) anterior.
- Before; earlier in time; beforehand.
Usage notes
edit- This prefix is usually prefixed to words without using a hyphen (for example, prefix, predate). A hyphen is used in the following cases:
- Where excluding a hyphen would be likely to lead to a mispronunciation of the word because "pre" appears not to be a complete syllable (for example, "pre-yaw course", which could be read as "prey aw course" if unhyphenated).
- Always in British English before the letter e (for example, pre-existing)
- Often in British English before other vowels (for example, pre-operative);
- Always in all varieties of English before a character other than a letter (for example, pre-1960).
Synonyms
editAntonyms
editDerived terms
editTranslations
edit
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See also
editFurther reading
edit- “pre-”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
- “pre-”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
- John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “pre-”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN. -- includes many derived terms
Anagrams
editCatalan
editEtymology
editPrefix
editpre-
- before; used to form words meaning "in front of" or "before"
- before; used to form words meaning superiority or excellence
Derived terms
editFurther reading
edit- “pre-” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
- “pre-”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
- “pre-” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
- “pre-” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
Galician
editEtymology
editPrefix
editpre-
Derived terms
editFrom
.
Further reading
edit- “pre-”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2024
Ido
editEtymology
editBorrowed from English pre-, French pré-, Italian pre-, Spanish pre-, Russian пред- (pred-), пре- (pre-).
Prefix
editpre-
Derived terms
editItalian
editEtymology
editPrefix
editpre-
Derived terms
edit- preadattamento
- preanticipare
- preario
- prebarocco
- preceltico
- precomprensione
- preconcordatario
- precongressuale
- preconsuntivo
- precritico
- precucinato
- predefinizione
- predefunto
- predibattimento
- predimostrazione
- predistinguere
- prefascista
- prefigurativo
- prefinito
- pregrafismo
- preincarico
- preindicato
- preintrodurre
- preleggi
- prelodato
- prelogico
- prelogismo
- pre-maman
- premenopausa
- prenascere
- prenegoziato
- prenominato
- Preominidi
- preorale
- prepagamento
- prepossente
- preraffaelita
- preromanzo
- preruolo
- presantificato
- presciistica
- presegnalazione
- preselettore
- presemina
- presistole
- preumanesimo
Anagrams
editLatin
editPrefix
editprē-
- (Medieval Latin) Alternative form of prae-
Derived terms
editNorwegian Bokmål
editEtymology
editPrefix
editpre-
Derived terms
editReferences
edit- “pre-” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
Norwegian Nynorsk
editEtymology
editPrefix
editpre-
Derived terms
editReferences
edit- “pre-” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
Polish
editPronunciation
editPrefix
editpre-
Derived terms
editFurther reading
edit- pre- in Polish dictionaries at PWN
Portuguese
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editPrefix
editpre-
- pre- (before)
Derived terms
editRomanian
editAlternative forms
editPronunciation
editEtymology 1
editInherited from Latin per-, with a few cases influenced by prae. Doublet of prea-.
Prefix
editpre-
- used with verbs to indicate repetition or insistence
Examples: presăra, prelinge. Compare also prevedea, priveghea
Etymology 2
editBorrowed from French pre-, Latin prae-.
Synonyms
editDerived terms
editSerbo-Croatian
editEtymology
editInherited from Proto-Slavic *per-.
Prefix
editpre- (Cyrillic spelling пре-)
- Prefix prepended to adjectives and adverbs to denote excess of a feature; too, excessively, over-
- dug / predug ― long / overlong
- Prefix prepended to verbs to indicate an action being done excessively, again or differently; re-, over-
- trpati / pretrpati ― to stuff / to overstuff
- Prefix prepended to verbs to indicate change in form, especially through partition
- prepoloviti ― split up
- Prefix prepended to imperfective verbs to make them perfective; to indicate that the action has been carried out
- Spavat ću u hotelu. Prespavao sam u hotelu. ― I will sleep in a hotel. I slept (over) in a hotel.
Usage notes
editThe suffix matches the usage of all mentioned prefixes in English for all adjectives and majority of verbs. When "pre-" may cause confusion or cannot be prefixed to a verb in order to indicate repetition, opet or ponovo ("again" / "anew") followed by the verb construction is used instead, e.g. "redo" would be "ponovno uraditi" ("do again") rather than preraditi ("rework").
Slovene
editEtymology
editFrom Proto-Slavic *per-.
Pronunciation
editPrefix
editpre-
- Forms perfective verbs with the following meanings:
- (no change in meaning)
- pre- + zráčiti (“to ventilate”) → prezráčiti (“to ventilate”)
- through, across
- re-, again
- pre- + bȃrvati (“to paint”) → prebȃrvati (“to repaint”)
- over-, too much
- pre- + plačáti (“to pay”) → preplačáti (“to overpay”)
- for a certain time
- pre- + sedẹ́ti (“to sit”) → presedẹ́ti (“to sit for a certain time”)
- (no change in meaning)
Derived terms
editSpanish
editEtymology
editBorrowed from Latin prae- (“before”), from the Latin preposition prae.
Prefix
editpre-
Derived terms
editFurther reading
edit- “pre-”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *preh₂-
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English prefixes
- en:Anatomy
- English productive prefixes
- Catalan terms derived from Latin
- Catalan lemmas
- Catalan prefixes
- Galician terms inherited from Latin
- Galician terms derived from Latin
- Galician lemmas
- Galician prefixes
- Ido terms borrowed from English
- Ido terms derived from English
- Ido terms derived from French
- Ido terms derived from Italian
- Ido terms derived from Spanish
- Ido terms derived from Russian
- Ido lemmas
- Ido prefixes
- Italian terms derived from Latin
- Italian lemmas
- Italian prefixes
- Latin lemmas
- Latin prefixes
- Medieval Latin
- Norwegian Bokmål terms derived from Latin
- Norwegian Bokmål lemmas
- Norwegian Bokmål prefixes
- Norwegian Nynorsk terms derived from Latin
- Norwegian Nynorsk lemmas
- Norwegian Nynorsk prefixes
- Polish 1-syllable words
- Polish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Polish/ɛ
- Rhymes:Polish/ɛ/1 syllable
- Polish lemmas
- Polish prefixes
- Portuguese terms inherited from Latin
- Portuguese terms derived from Latin
- Portuguese lemmas
- Portuguese prefixes
- Romanian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Romanian terms inherited from Latin
- Romanian terms derived from Latin
- Romanian doublets
- Romanian lemmas
- Romanian prefixes
- Romanian terms borrowed from French
- Romanian terms derived from French
- Romanian terms borrowed from Latin
- Serbo-Croatian terms inherited from Proto-Slavic
- Serbo-Croatian terms derived from Proto-Slavic
- Serbo-Croatian lemmas
- Serbo-Croatian prefixes
- Serbo-Croatian terms with usage examples
- Serbo-Croatian adjectival prefixes
- Slovene terms inherited from Proto-Slavic
- Slovene terms derived from Proto-Slavic
- Slovene terms with IPA pronunciation
- Slovene lemmas
- Slovene prefixes
- Spanish terms borrowed from Latin
- Spanish terms derived from Latin
- Spanish lemmas
- Spanish prefixes