"ab-" meaning in English

See ab- in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Prefix

Forms: a- [alternative], abs- [alternative]
Etymology: From Latin ab-, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂epo (“off, away”) (English off, of). Doublet of apo- and off-. Etymology templates: {{bor|en|la|ab-}} Latin ab-, {{der|en|ine-pro|*h₂epo||off, away}} Proto-Indo-European *h₂epo (“off, away”), {{cog|en|off}} English off, {{doublet|en|apo-|off-}} Doublet of apo- and off- Head templates: {{head|en|prefix|head=|sort=}} ab-, {{en-prefix}} ab-
  1. (no longer productive) From. Tags: idiomatic, morpheme
    Sense id: en-ab--en-prefix-J~6gVo2A
  2. (no longer productive) Away from; outside of. Tags: idiomatic, morpheme
    Sense id: en-ab--en-prefix-yOb7G9vw
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms (away from): out-, off-, apo-, de-, away, off
Etymology number: 1 Disambiguation of 'away from': 46 54

Prefix

Etymology: Abbreviation of absolute. Head templates: {{head|en|prefix|head=|sort=}} ab-, {{en-prefix}} ab-
  1. (physics) A unit of electromagnetic charge in the centimeter-gram-second system: the abcoulomb. Tags: morpheme
    Sense id: en-ab--en-prefix-YMgDG-jp Categories (other): Physics, English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 6 entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 18 26 55 Disambiguation of Pages with 6 entries: 0 2 12 20 21 21 10 0 0 0 0 1 4 9 Topics: natural-sciences, physical-sciences, physics
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 2

Alternative forms

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      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "ab-"
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      "expansion": "Latin ab-",
      "name": "bor"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*h₂epo",
        "4": "",
        "5": "off, away"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Indo-European *h₂epo (“off, away”)",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "off"
      },
      "expansion": "English off",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
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        "3": "off-"
      },
      "expansion": "Doublet of apo- and off-",
      "name": "doublet"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Latin ab-, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂epo (“off, away”) (English off, of). Doublet of apo- and off-.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "a-",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "abs-",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
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  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
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        "2": "prefix",
        "head": "",
        "sort": ""
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    {
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      "expansion": "ab-",
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    }
  ],
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "prefix",
  "senses": [
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "ab- + sorb → absorb",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "From."
      ],
      "id": "en-ab--en-prefix-J~6gVo2A",
      "links": [
        [
          "From",
          "from"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(no longer productive) From."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "morpheme"
      ]
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "ab- + normal → abnormal",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "text": "ab- + axial → abaxial",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Away from; outside of."
      ],
      "id": "en-ab--en-prefix-yOb7G9vw",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(no longer productive) Away from; outside of."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "morpheme"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "46 54",
      "sense": "away from",
      "word": "out-"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "46 54",
      "sense": "away from",
      "word": "off-"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "46 54",
      "sense": "away from",
      "word": "apo-"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "46 54",
      "sense": "away from",
      "word": "de-"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "46 54",
      "sense": "away from",
      "word": "away"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "46 54",
      "sense": "away from",
      "word": "off"
    }
  ],
  "word": "ab-"
}

{
  "etymology_number": 2,
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  "head_templates": [
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          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Physics",
          "orig": "en:Physics",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "18 26 55",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "0 2 12 20 21 21 10 0 0 0 0 1 4 9",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 6 entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A unit of electromagnetic charge in the centimeter-gram-second system: the abcoulomb."
      ],
      "id": "en-ab--en-prefix-YMgDG-jp",
      "links": [
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          "physics",
          "physics"
        ],
        [
          "unit",
          "unit"
        ],
        [
          "centimeter-gram-second",
          "centimeter-gram-second"
        ],
        [
          "abcoulomb",
          "abcoulomb"
        ]
      ],
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        "(physics) A unit of electromagnetic charge in the centimeter-gram-second system: the abcoulomb."
      ],
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        "morpheme"
      ],
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        "natural-sciences",
        "physical-sciences",
        "physics"
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    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English prefixes",
    "English terms borrowed from Latin",
    "English terms derived from Latin",
    "English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European",
    "English unproductive prefixes",
    "Pages using catfix",
    "Pages with 6 entries",
    "Pages with entries"
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      "name": "bor"
    },
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        "1": "en",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*h₂epo",
        "4": "",
        "5": "off, away"
      },
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      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "off"
      },
      "expansion": "English off",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "apo-",
        "3": "off-"
      },
      "expansion": "Doublet of apo- and off-",
      "name": "doublet"
    }
  ],
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  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "a-",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "abs-",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
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        "2": "prefix",
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        "sort": ""
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      "args": {},
      "expansion": "ab-",
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    }
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  "pos": "prefix",
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        {
          "text": "ab- + sorb → absorb",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
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        "From."
      ],
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        [
          "From",
          "from"
        ]
      ],
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        "(no longer productive) From."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "morpheme"
      ]
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "ab- + normal → abnormal",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "text": "ab- + axial → abaxial",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Away from; outside of."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(no longer productive) Away from; outside of."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "morpheme"
      ]
    }
  ],
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    {
      "sense": "away from",
      "word": "out-"
    },
    {
      "sense": "away from",
      "word": "off-"
    },
    {
      "sense": "away from",
      "word": "apo-"
    },
    {
      "sense": "away from",
      "word": "de-"
    },
    {
      "sense": "away from",
      "word": "away"
    },
    {
      "sense": "away from",
      "word": "off"
    }
  ],
  "word": "ab-"
}

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    "English lemmas",
    "English prefixes",
    "English unproductive prefixes",
    "Pages with 6 entries",
    "Pages with entries"
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  "etymology_text": "Abbreviation of absolute.",
  "head_templates": [
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        "A unit of electromagnetic charge in the centimeter-gram-second system: the abcoulomb."
      ],
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          "physics"
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        [
          "unit",
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          "centimeter-gram-second",
          "centimeter-gram-second"
        ],
        [
          "abcoulomb",
          "abcoulomb"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(physics) A unit of electromagnetic charge in the centimeter-gram-second system: the abcoulomb."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "morpheme"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "natural-sciences",
        "physical-sciences",
        "physics"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "ab-"
}

Download raw JSONL data for ab- meaning in English (3.0kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-06-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-05-20 using wiktextract (3dadd05 and f1c2b61). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.