Definition:
A letter or group of letters attached to the beginning of a word that partly indicates its meaning. Common prefixes include anti- (against), co- (with), mis- (wrong, bad), and trans- (across). See also:
Etymology:
From the Latin, "to fasten in front"Examples & Observations:
- circum = around
"Some circumstantial evidence is very strong, as when you find a trout in the milk."
(Henry David Thoreau) - dis = apart, away
"Finance is the art of passing money from hand to hand until it finally disappears."
(Robert W. Sarnoff) - pre = before
"What does it mean to pre-board? Do you get on [a plane] before you get on?"
(George Carlin) - "If lawyers are disbarred and clergymen defrocked, doesn't it follow that electricians can be delighted, musicians denoted?"
(George Carlin) - "I don't trust the guy. I think he regifted, then he degifted."
(Jerry Seinfeld, Seinfeld, 1995) - "Prefixes are generally set solid with the rest of the word. Hyphens appear only when the word attached begins with (1) a capital letter, as with anti-Stalin, or (2) the same vowel as the prefix ends in, as with: anti-inflationary, de-escalate, micro-organism. Yet in well-established cases of this type, the hyphen becomes optional, as with cooperate."
(Pam Peters, The Cambridge Guide to English Usage, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2004) - "Lately the prefix trend has been shrinking. During the 1980s, 'mini-' gave way to 'micro-,' which has yielded to 'nano-.' In the new millennium, companies such as Nanometrics, Nanogen and NanoPierce Technologies have all embraced the prefix, despite complaints their products were hardly nano-scale (a billionth of a meter or smaller). Even Eddie Bauer sells stain-resistant nano-pants. (They're available in 'extra-large' for the retailer's not-so-nano customers.)"
(Alex Boese, "Electrocybertronics," Smithsonian, March 2008)
Pronunciation: PREE-fix
