pre-

See also: Appendix:Variations of "pre"

English

Alternative forms

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

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Prefix

pre-

2. Before; physically in front of; (anatomy) anterior.
4. 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

• (antonym(s) of “anterior”): post-
• (antonym(s) of “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)
• Hindi: पूर्व (hi) (pūrv)
• Ido: pre-
• Italian: pre- (it)
• Malay: pra- (ms)
• Malayalam: മുൻ- (muṉ-)
• 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-”, 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

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

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, 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

Etymology

From Latin prae- (“before”).

Prefix

pre-

1. pre-

Derived terms

From

Galician terms prefixed with pre-

.

Further reading

• “pre-”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2024

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-

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

Latin

Prefix

prē-

1. (Medieval Latin) Alternative form of prae-

Derived terms

Latin terms prefixed with pre-

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin prae.

Prefix

pre-

1. pre-

Derived terms

Norwegian Bokmål terms prefixed with pre-

References

• “pre-” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Latin prae.

Prefix

pre-

1. pre-

Derived terms

Norwegian Nynorsk terms prefixed with pre-

References

• “pre-” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Polish

Pronunciation

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

Prefix

pre-

1. pre-

Derived terms

Polish terms prefixed with pre-

Further reading

• pre- in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• pré-

Etymology

From Latin prae-.

Prefix

pre-

1. pre- (before)

Derived terms

Portuguese terms prefixed with pre-

Romanian

Alternative forms

• pri-

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pre/

Etymology 1

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

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-

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Inherited 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").

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-

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed 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 [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28