Etymograph

English

prefix

Prefix comes from Latin praefīxus ‘fastened or attached in front’, from Proto-Italic *prai- ‘pre-, before’, and ultimately from *prai.

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*prai‘before’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italic, derivedc. 1500–700 BCE*prai-‘pre-, before’next step skipped: Latin praefīgō
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpraefīxus‘fastened or attached in front’
  4. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEpraefīxum
  5. Englishearliest quotation 2022prefix

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*prai‘before’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italic, derivedc. 1500–700 BCE*prai-‘pre-, before’next step skipped: Latin praefīgō
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpraefīxus‘fastened or attached in front’
  4. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEpraefīxum
  5. Englishearliest quotation 2022prefix

Earliest quotation: 2022, Ian Sample, Earth weighs in at six ronnagrams as new prefixes picked for: “The chosen prefixes won the vote in part because…”

Formed from pre + fix

Proto-Indo-European *préh₂i

Proto-Italic *prai ‘before’

Latin prae ‘in front of’

English pre

Proto-Indo-European *dʰeygʷ- ‘to jab’

…

Latin fīxus ‘immovable’

Old French fix ‘fastened’

Old French *fixer

Middle English fixen

English fix

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *preh₂- ‘before, in front’

for, first, premier, forbid, prairie, primer, primate, primacy, parasol, parley, portobello, 17 more

through Proto-Italic *prai ‘before’

pre, premonition, 8 more

through Proto-Italic *prai- ‘pre-, before’

prestigious, preface, preeminent, precede, prescient, impregnate, 6 more

Another origin of prefix

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*preh₂-‘before, in front’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*préh₂iuncertain
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*prai‘before’reconstructed
  4. Proto-Italic, derivedc. 1500–700 BCE*prai-‘pre-, before’next step skipped: Latin praefīgō
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpraefīxus‘fastened or attached in front’
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600prefixer
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500prefixen
  8. Englishtodayprefix

Today it means

noun A morpheme added to the beginning of a word to modify its meaning, for example as, pre- in prefix, con- in conjure, re- in reheat, etc.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Italic *prai / prefix

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