prefix
/ˈpriːfɪks/
noun
Origin
Latin
praefixus — attached in front
Overview
Meaning Now
- An affix placed before the word, base, or another prefix to which it is attached to modify its meaning.
- A title or honorific placed before a person's name.
Literal older meaning
fixed or placed before
Language path
Latin → Middle French → English
Earliest form
praefixum
Earliest period
17th century
Journey
The term was adopted into scholarly English usage from Latin grammatical tradition to describe the formation of words by concatenation, distinguishing them from suffixes and infixes.
Evolution
- Classical Latin
praefigere
“to fasten or fix in front”
- Late Latin
praefixum
“a thing fixed in front”
- Middle French
préfix
“placed before”
- 17th-century English
prefix
“affix placed at the start of a word”
Connections
Word parts
pre-
prefix
before
fix
root
to fasten or attach
Related across languages
French
préfixe
prefix
Spanish
prefijo
prefix
German
Präfix
prefix
Related words
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Related to prefix
External references use DefinedTerm semantics.