pre-

pre-

See also: pre, pré, pře, pré-, pře-, and Appendix:Variations of "pre"

English

Alternative forms

• prae-, præ- (archaic, technical, or pedantic)
• p͛- (abbreviation, obsolete)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɹi/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Prefix

pre-

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

Usage notes

• 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

• (anterior): ante-, fore-
• (beforehand): ante-, fore-

Antonyms

• (anterior): post-
• (beforehand): after-, post-

Derived terms

English terms prefixed with pre-

terms derived from pre-

• pré-
• precocious
• precognition
• predate
• pre-existing
• prefix
• preheat
• premonition
• pre-op
• pre-operative
• preposition
• prequel
• presage
• preview
• previous
• pre-war

Translations

before

Armenian: նախա- (naxa-) Catalan: pre- (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 前- (zh) (qián), -前 (zh) (qián), 預-／预- (zh) (yù) Czech: před- Esperanto: antaŭ- Finnish: etu- (fi), esi- (fi) French: (before a word) pré- (fr); (before a number) d'avant (to form adjectives, for example a pre-1960 car - une voiture d'avant 1960), avant (fr) (to form adverbs, for example to go back pre-1960 - retourner avant 1960) Galician: pre- (gl) German: vor- (de), prä- (de) Greek: προ- (el) (pro-) Hebrew: טְרוֹם‎ (trom), קְדַם‎ (he) (qdam) Ido: pre- Italian: pre- (it) Malay: pra- (ms) Norwegian: Bokmål: pre- Nynorsk: pre- Persian: پیش-‎ (fa) Polish: przed (pl) Portuguese: pre- (pt), pré- (pt) Russian: до- (ru) (do-), пред- (ru) (pred-), пре- (ru) (pre-) Scottish Gaelic: ro- Spanish: pre- (es) Swedish: pre- (sv), för- (sv) Tagalog: dipa- Tatar: алдан- (aldan-)

See also

• fore
• pre

Further reading

• pre- at OneLook Dictionary Search
• “pre-”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
• “pre-”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989, →ISBN. -- includes many derived terms

Anagrams

• EPR, ERP, PER, Per., RPE, Rep, Rep., per, per-, per., rep

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Catalan

Etymology

From Latin prae- (“before”).

Prefix

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

Catalan terms prefixed with pre-

Further reading

• “pre-” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “pre-”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2023
• “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.

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Galician

Etymology

From Latin prae- (“before”).

Prefix

pre-

1. pre-

Derived terms

Galician terms prefixed with pre-

Further reading

• “pre-” in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega, Royal Galician Academy.

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Ido

Etymology

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

Prefix

pre-

1. pre-

Derived terms

Ido terms prefixed with pre-

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Italian

Etymology

From Latin prae- (“before”).

Prefix

pre-

1. pre-

Derived terms

Italian terms prefixed with pre-

Derived terms

• 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

• per

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Latin

Prefix

prē-

1. (Medieval Latin) Alternative form of prae-

Derived terms

Latin terms prefixed with pre-

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Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin prae.

Prefix

pre-

1. pre-

Derived terms

Norwegian Bokmål terms prefixed with pre-

References

• “pre-” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Latin prae.

Prefix

pre-

1. pre-

Derived terms

Norwegian Nynorsk terms prefixed with pre-

References

• “pre-” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

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Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /prɛ/

Prefix

pre-

1. pre-

Derived terms

Polish terms prefixed with pre-

Further reading

• pre- in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• pre- in Polish dictionaries at PWN

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Portuguese

Alternative forms

• pré-

Etymology

From Latin prae-.

Prefix

pre-

1. pre- (before)

Derived terms

Portuguese terms prefixed with pre-

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Romanian

Alternative forms

• pri-

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pre/

Etymology 1

From Latin per-, with a few cases influenced by prae.

Prefix

pre-

1. used with verbs to indicate repetition or insistence

Examples: presăra, prelinge. Compare also prevedea, priveghea

Etymology 2

Borrowed from French pre-, Latin prae-.

1. pre-

Synonyms

• ante-

Derived terms

Romanian terms prefixed with pre-

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Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *per-.

Prefix

pre- (Cyrillic spelling пре-)

1. Prefix prepended to adjectives and adverbs to denote excess of a feature; too, excessively, over-

   dug / predug ― long / overlong

2. Prefix prepended to verbs to indicate an action being done excessively, again or differently; re-, over-

   trpati / pretrpati ― to stuff / to overstuff

3. Prefix prepended to verbs to indicate change in form, especially through partition

   prepoloviti ― split 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

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").

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Slovene

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *per-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /prɛ-/

Prefix

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

Slovene terms prefixed with pre-

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Spanish

Etymology

From Latin prae- (“before”), from the Latin preposition prae.

Prefix

pre-

1. pre-

   Antonyms: post-, pos-

Derived terms

Spanish terms prefixed with pre-

Further reading

• “pre-”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014