pre-

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English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle English pre-, borrowed from Latin prae-, from the preposition prae (before).

Pronunciation

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  • (UK) IPA(key): /pɹiː/
  • (US) IPA(key): /pɹi/, /pɹɪ/
  • Audio (US):(file)

Prefix

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pre-

  1. Before; physically in front of; (anatomy) anterior.
  2. Before; earlier in time; beforehand.

Usage notes

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  • 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

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Antonyms

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  • (antonym(s) of anterior): post-
  • (antonym(s) of beforehand): after-, post-

Derived terms

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Translations

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See also

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Further reading

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Anagrams

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Catalan

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Etymology

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From Latin prae- (before).

Prefix

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pre-

  1. before; used to form words meaning "in front of" or "before"
  2. before; used to form words meaning superiority or excellence

Derived terms

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Further reading

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Galician

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Etymology

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From Latin prae- (before).

Prefix

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pre-

  1. pre-

Derived terms

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From

.

Further reading

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Ido

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Etymology

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Borrowed from English pre-, French pré-, Italian pre-, Spanish pre-, Russian пред- (pred-), пре- (pre-).

Prefix

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pre-

  1. pre-

Derived terms

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Italian

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Etymology

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From Latin prae- (before).

Prefix

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pre-

  1. pre-

Derived terms

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Anagrams

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Latin

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Prefix

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prē-

  1. (Medieval Latin) Alternative form of prae-

Derived terms

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Norwegian Bokmål

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Etymology

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From Latin prae.

Prefix

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pre-

  1. pre-

Derived terms

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References

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Norwegian Nynorsk

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Etymology

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From Latin prae.

Prefix

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pre-

  1. pre-

Derived terms

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References

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Polish

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /prɛ/
  • Rhymes:
  • Syllabification: [please specify syllabification manually]

Prefix

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pre-

  1. pre-

Derived terms

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Further reading

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  • pre- in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Latin prae-.

Prefix

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pre-

  1. pre- (before)

Derived terms

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Romanian

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Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Inherited from Latin per-, with a few cases influenced by prae. Doublet of prea-.

Prefix

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pre-

  1. used with verbs to indicate repetition or insistence

Examples: presăra, prelinge. Compare also prevedea, priveghea

Etymology 2

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Borrowed from French pre-, Latin prae-.

  1. pre-

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Serbo-Croatian

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Etymology

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Inherited from Proto-Slavic *per-.

Prefix

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pre- (Cyrillic spelling пре-)

  1. Prefix prepended to adjectives and adverbs to denote excess of a feature; too, excessively, over-
    dug / preduglong / overlong
  2. Prefix prepended to verbs to indicate an action being done excessively, again or differently; re-, over-
    trpati / pretrpatito stuff / to overstuff
  3. Prefix prepended to verbs to indicate change in form, especially through partition
    prepolovitisplit up
  4. 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

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The 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

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Etymology

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From Proto-Slavic *per-.

Pronunciation

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Prefix

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pre-

  1. Forms perfective verbs with the following meanings:
    1. (no change in meaning)
      pre- + ‎zráčiti (to ventilate) → ‎prezráčiti (to ventilate)
    2. through, across
      pre- + ‎grísti (to bite) → ‎pregrísti (to bite through)
    3. re-, again
      pre- + ‎bȃrvati (to paint) → ‎prebȃrvati (to repaint)
    4. over-, too much
      pre- + ‎plačáti (to pay) → ‎preplačáti (to overpay)
    5. for a certain time
      pre- + ‎sedẹ́ti (to sit) → ‎presedẹ́ti (to sit for a certain time)

Derived terms

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Spanish

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin prae- (before), from the Latin preposition prae.

Prefix

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pre-

  1. pre-
    Antonyms: post-, pos-

Derived terms

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Further reading

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