ab-

From the preposition ab (“from, away from”).

abamita (“great-great-grandaunt”)

abavia (“great-great-grandmother”)

abavunculus (“great-great-granduncle”)

abavus (“great-great-grandfather”)

abmātertera (“great-great-grandaunt”)

abnepōs (“great-great-grandson”)

abneptis (“great-great-granddaughter”)

absocer (“great-great-grandfather-in-law”)


pseudo-

From Ancient Greek ψευδής (pseudḗs, “lying, false”).


a-

a- + scandere (“climb”) → ascendere (“climb up, go up; rise, spring up”)

a- + scrībere (“write”) → ascrībere (“state in writing, add in writing; insert; appoint, enroll, enfranchise, reckon, number”)

a- + spīrāre (“breathe”) → aspīrāre (“breathe or blow upon; am favorable to, assist, favor, aid; aspire or desire (to); approach, come near (to)”)

a- + specere (“observe, look at”) → aspicere (“look at or towards, behold; regard, respect; observe, notice; examine, inspect; consider, ponder”)

a- + stringere (“press, tighten, compress”) → astringere (“draw close, bind or tie together; tighten, contract; check, restrain; oblige, necessitate”)

a- + struere (“compose, construct, build; ready, prepare; place, arrange”) → astruere (“build near or to a thing, erect; build on, heap; build an additional structure”)

(Before a word beginning with sc, sp or st) Alternative form of ad-


centi-

one hundred-, hundred-; indicates a count of one hundred items


im-

Assimilated form of in-, before b-/p-/m-.


in-

→ Catalan: in- (sometimes i-, or im- before p, b and m)

→ French: in-

→ Italian: in-

→ Middle English: in-

English: in-, ir-, il-, im-

→ Portuguese: in- (im- before p or b, i- before l, n, or m, and ir- before r)

→ Sicilian: n- (m- before p, b or m, il- before l, and ir- before r)

→ Spanish: in- (im- before p or b, i- before l, and ir- before r)

From Proto-Italic *ən-, from Proto-Indo-European *n̥- (“not”), zero-grade form of the negative particle *ne (“not”). Akin to ne-, nē, nī.


in-

Aromanian: ãn-, n-, an-

Catalan: en-

English: in-

French: en-

Italian: in-, en-

Portuguese: en-

Romanian: în-

Spanish: en-

in- + hālō (“breathe”) → inhālō (“breathe in, inhale”)

Prepositional prefix, generally attached to verbs to derive new verbs with a range of meanings.

in- + gradior (“step, go”) → ingredior (“go into, enter”)

in- + nūbō (“marry”) → innūbō (“marry into”)

in- + cadō (“fall”) → incidō (“fall into, fall upon”)

in- + pangō (“set, fix, settle, fasten”) → impingō (“fasten upon, dash against, strike against”)

in- + flīgō (“strike”) → īnflīgō (“strike on, strike against, inflict, impose upon”)

in- + vocō (“call”) → invocō (“call on, call upon, invoke”)

in- + crepō (“I rattle”) → increpō (“I rattle, rebuke”)

in- + ārēscō (“I am drying, am growing drier”) → inārēscō (“I start becoming dry, become somewhat dry”)

Attached to inchoative verbs, can express the sense of a change being started or reaching partial completion


in-

Lexikon der indogermanischen Partikeln und Pronominalstämme

From Proto-Indo-European *énu (“along, after”). Cognate with Sanskrit अनु (ánu-, “after”), Avestan 𐬀𐬥𐬎 (anu, “after; corresponding to”), Old Persian 𐎠𐎵𐎺 (a-nu-v /anuv/), and Gothic 𐌹𐌽𐌿 (inu, “without”) (whose meaning developed “along” > “past” > “without”).


tri-

English: tri-

Combining form of trēs (“three”, cardinal numeral).


ambi-

From Proto-Italic *amβi, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂m̥bʰi; compare ambō.

(with nominal or adjectival bases) both, ambi-


hexa-

Italian: esa-

From Ancient Greek ἑξα- (hexa-), from ἕξ (héx, “six”).


circum-

Combining form of circum (“round about”, “in a circle around”, adverb and preposition).


bi-

From Proto-Italic *dwi-, from Proto-Indo-European *dwi- (“two-; twice-”), prefix form corresponding to the numeral *dwóh₁ (“two”); the origin in PIE of the *i here is uncertain.


quadri-

From Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwr̥-, with -twr- developing into -dr-; compare the full form quattuor, ultimately from *kʷetwóres. Analogous to Ancient Greek τετρα- (tetra-) vs. τέτταρες (téttares, “four”).


semi-

→ English: semi-, semi

→ French: semi-

→ Italian: semi-

→ Portuguese: semi-

→ Spanish: semi-

From Proto-Indo-European *sēmi-. Cognate with Sanskrit सामि (sāmí), Ancient Greek ἡμι- (hēmi-), Old High German sami-.


re-

Catalan: re-

→ English: re-

French: re-, ré-, r-

Galician: re-

Interlingua: re-

Italian: re-, ri-

Norman: re-, èr-

Occitan: re-

Picard: ar-

Portuguese: re-

Romanian: ră-, re-

Spanish: re-

From Proto-Italic *wre- (“again”), which has a parallel in Umbrian re-, but its further etymology is uncertain (OED).
While it carries a general sense of "back" or "backwards", its precise sense is not always clear, and its great productivity in classical Latin has the tendency to obscure its original meaning.
Watkins proposes a metathesis of Proto-Indo-European *wert- (“to turn”), while de Vaan suggests Proto-Indo-European *ure- (“back”), which may be found in Proto-Slavic *rakъ (“crayfish, lobster”) (tentatively, in an original sense *“looking backwards”) and Albanian rrë- (“back”, preverb), unless the latter is borrowed from Latin.

cog

re- + glūtinō (“glue”) → reglūtinō (“unglue, separate”)

re- + neō (“spin, weave, entwine”) → reneō (“unspin, unravel”)

re- + gelō (“freeze, congeal”) → regelō (“thaw, unfreeze”)

again; prefix added to various words to indicate an action being done again, or like the other usages indicated above under English.


dys-

Used to convey the idea of being difficult, impaired, abnormal, or bad


de-

→ English: de-

French: de-, dé- (partially)

Italian: de-

Spanish: de-

→ Swedish: de-


dis-

Catalan: des-; → dis-

→ English: dis-

⇒ English: disrespect, disparage

desctree

⇒ English: diss
→ Chinese: diss
→ Dutch: diss, dissen
→ German: dissen
→ Polish: diss
→ Swedish: diss

→ Esperanto: dis-

Franco-Provençal: dè-

French: dé-, dés-; → dis-

Friulian: dis-

→ Gothic: 𐌳𐌹𐍃- (dis-)

Italian: dis-, s-

Norman: des-

Occitan: des-

Portuguese: des-; → dis-

Romanian: des-, dez-

Sicilian: sdi-, s-

Spanish: des-; → dis-

Seemingly a mix of Proto-Indo-European *dus- (“bad”), Proto-Indo-European *dwi- (“two”) (doublet of bi-) and Proto-Indo-European *dwís (“twice, in two”) (doublet of bis), from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ (“two”). De Vaan proposes that either Proto-Indo-European *dus- (“bad”) was reformed to Proto-Italic *dis- by analogy with Proto-Indo-European *dwi- (“two”), or that *dwis- was changed to *dis- by dissimilation before roots starting with *w. Cognate with Ancient Greek δυσ- (dus-), Ancient Greek διά (diá), Ancient Greek δίς (dís), Sanskrit द्विस् (dvis).

inh

dīmittō

discēdō

dissimulō

differtus


ex-

French: é-

Italian: s-, es-

Old Occitan:

Occitan: es-

Polish: eks-, eks

Portuguese: es-, ex-

Sicilian: s- (before consonant), sc- (before vowel)

Spanish: es-

The preposition ex, ē used in combination.

ē- + veniō → ēveniō

ex- + clāmō (“call, shout”) → exclāmō (“call out, exclaim”)

ex- + eō (“go”) → exeō (“exit, depart”)

ē- + dormiō → ēdormiō

ē- + pōtō (“drink”) → ēpōtō (“drink up”)

ē- + dūrus → ēdūrō

ex- + acuō → exacuō

ex- + ōrō → exōrō

ex- + pugnō (“battle, fight, combat”) → expugnō (“capture, conquer”)

ex- + aggerō → exaggerō

ex- + struō (“pile, arrange”) → exstruō (“heap up, build up, construct”)

ex- + anima (“air, breath, soul, life”) → exanimō (“deprive of air, deprive of life”)

ex- + sanguis (“blood”) → exsanguis (“deprived of blood, bloodless”)


di-

Borrowed from Ancient Greek δῐ- (di-), from δίς (dís, “twice, doubly”).


con-

coeō, colloquor, convīvor, etc.: colligō, compōnō, condō, etc.

Used in compounds to indicate a being or bringing together of several objects

commaculō, commendō, concitō, comminuō, concerpō, concīdō, convellō, etc.

Used in compounds to indicate the completeness, perfecting of any act, and thus gives intensity to the signification of the simple word


pre-

(Medieval Latin) Alternative form of prae-


e-

Alternative form of ex- (combining with b-, d-, g-, j-, l-, m-, n-, r-, and v-initial words).


inter-

→ Catalan: inter-

→ Czech: inter-

→ Danish: inter-

→ Dutch: inter-

→ English: inter-

→ Finnish: inter-

→ French: inter-

→ Galician: inter-

→ German: inter-

→ Hungarian: inter-

→ Italian: inter-

→ Norman: întèr-

→ Norwegian: inter-

→ Polish: inter-

→ Portuguese: inter-

→ Russian: интер- (inter-)

→ Spanish: inter-

→ West Frisian: ynter-


ad-

From the preposition ad (“to, towards”).

usually prefixed to verbs, in which cases it often has the effect of intensifying the verbal action


sub-

sub- (“under, below”) + scrībō (“write”) → subscrībō (“to write underneath, to write below”)

Attached to verbs, may denote the position or direction of an action

sub- (“under”) + terra (“earth”) + -āneus (adjective-forming suffix) → subterrāneus (“subterranean, underground”)

sub- (“under”) + lūna (“moon”) + -āris (adjective-forming suffix) → sublūnāris (“sublunar, sublunary”)

In compounds, may stand for sub in a prepositional phrase

sub- (“somewhat”) + amārus (“bitter”) → subamārus (“somewhat bitter, bitterish”)

Attached to adjectives, creates new adjectives of lesser intensity, having a sense like "somewhat", "slightly", "rather", "-ish"


trans-

etymon

trāns-


archi-

→ Portuguese: arqui-

→ Spanish: arqui-

desc

→ Russian: арцы- (arcy-), арци- (arci-), архи- (arxi-)

→ Proto-West Germanic: *arci- (see there for further descendants)

desctree

→ Old English: arċe-, ærċe-, erċe-
Middle English: arche-
English: arch-

From the Ancient Greek ἀρχι- (arkhi-). Productive from Late Latin on.


ob-

Prefixation of preposition ob (“towards; against”).


ne-

From Old Latin ne (“not”) in compositions.

ne- (“not”) + sciō (“I know”) → nesciō (“I don't know”)

absolutely negates the principal meaning


pro-

From Proto-Italic *pro-, from Proto-Indo-European *pro-. Synchronically served as the prefix counterpart to the preposition prō.

prō- + clīvus + -is → prōclīvis

prōd- + eō → prōdeō

prō- + gradior → prōgredior

prō- + flīgō + -ō → prōflīgō

prō- + terō → prōterō

forward direction, forward movement
downward and forward movement

prō- + pugnō → prōpugnō

prō- + tegō → prōtegō

prō- + *mineō → prōmineō

prō- + pendeō → prōpendeō

prō- + clāmō → prōclāmō

prō- + loquor → prōloquor

(prefixed to verbs of utterance) in place of, on behalf of

prō- + creō → prōcreō

prō- + gignō → prōgignō

prō- + *olēs → prōlēs

prō- + emō → prōmō

bringing into being, forth, or into the open

pro- + avus → proavus

prō- + rogō → prōrogō

prō- + videō → prōvideō

prō- + cūrō → prōcūrō

prō- + faciō → prōficiō

prō(d)- + sum → prōsum


per-

From Proto-Italic *peri-. Related to per (“through”).

magnus (“great, large”) → permagnus (“very great, very large”)

multī (“many”) → permultī (“very many”)

Used to make adjectives or verbs that are "very" something.

Used to form verbs that are intensive or completive, conveying the idea of doing something all the way through or entirely.


ac-

Occurs when ad- is prefixed to a word beginning with the letter c or q (accēdō, acceptō, accessiō, acquiēscō, etc.)


supra-

Italian: sopra-

→ English: supra-

→ Italian: supra-


al-

Euphonic alteration of ad-, assimilating the D into the initial L of the word the prefix is applied to. See also ac-, af-, ag-, ap-, ar-, as-, at-.


prae-

Italian: pre-

Old Occitan:

Catalan: pre-

Old Galician-Portuguese:

Galician: pre-

Portuguese: pre-

Old Spanish:

Spanish: pre-

→ English: pre-

→ French: pré-

→ German: prä-

→ Norwegian: pre-

→ Portuguese: pré-

→ Romanian: pre-

From Proto-Italic *prai-, from Proto-Indo-European *preh₂- (“before, in front of”). Related to prae (“before”).

der

indicating very high degree, e.g., praepotens


ali-

Probably a truncation of alius (“other”).

some- (turns interrogative pronouns into indefinite pronouns)


ve-

There is some disagreement on origin of this prefix:
* From Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew (“out, away”). Compare Latin au-, Sanskrit अव (áva), Old Irish úa (“from, of”).
* From Proto-Italic *s(w)ē-, from Proto-Indo-European *swé (“self”), whence also Latin sē- (“separately; without”), sē (“oneself”), sed (“but”).
* By reanalysis of the contracted form of vehemēns (“very eager, furious”), vēmēns, as vē- and mēns (“mind”).

Used to indicate a fault of excess or deficiency, too much, too little


se-

*s(w)ēd, the ablative singular of Proto-Indo-European *s(w)é (“self”) lengthened under phrasal stress. Note there's no hard evidence for a /w/ in Italic, which is likely taken from the possessive pronoun in other branches. The original meaning was "per se, by itself", whence "however, but" as conjunction and "without, away" as preposition, parallel to English only (“but”).
Doublet of sē as well as sed (q.v.), where the vowel shortened proclitically (or never lengthened). Cf. the semantically close vē-, which might also be a doublet with loss of /s/. Further related to suus (“one's own”).

claudō (“to close, shut, confine”) → sēclūdō (“to shut off”)

dūcō (“to lead”) → sēdūcō (“to lead away or astray, separate from”)

cūra (“care, worry”) → sēcūrus (“free from care, easy; careless”)

cor (“heart as the seat of vitality”) → socors (“lacking in vitality or alertness, sluggish, inactive, dull”)

(in a privative sense) without, lacking, wanting, -less


se-

From sex before voiced consonants with voicing assimilation (*segz-) followed by regular elision with compensatory lenthening, for which cf. āla, vēlum.

sex + decem (“ten”) → sēdecim (“sixteen”)

sex → sēnī (“six each”)


cerato-

Borrowed from Ancient Greek κέρας (kéras, “horn”).

bor+

(New Latin) kerato- (horned; horn-like).


sem-

sēmēsus


po-

From Proto-Italic *po, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂pó, zero-grade of *h₂epo (whence ab).


theo-

From Ancient Greek θεό- (theó-, “god”), combining form of θεός (theós, “god”).


sed-

*s(w)ēd, the ablative singular of Proto-Indo-European *swé (“self”) lengthened under phrasal stress. Original form preserving the inherited /d/, which has been reinterpreted as hiatus-filler, but lost otherwise in all cases of long vowel preceding final /d/, such as other ablatives.
Doublet of sē as well as sed, where the vowel shortened (or never lengthened).

sēd- + itiō → sēditiō


ef-

Alternative form of ex- (combining with f-initial words).


red-

From metanalysis of re- in verbs like reddō < *re-di-dō, parallel and analogical to prō-/prōd-.

Primarily ante-vocalic or poetic variant of re-


ig-

Assimilated form of in-, before original gn-. Extended by analogy to some bases that did not originally start with gn-, such as ignōminia from nōmen, from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₁nómn̥ (“name”).


por-

From Proto-Italic *por-, from Proto-Indo-European *pr-.


au-

From Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew. Unrelated to its allomorph ab-.

ab- + ferō → auferō

ab- + fugiō → aufugiō


ce-

ce- + -dō → cedō


ec-

Related to Oscan 𐌄𐌊𐌊𐌖𐌌 (ekkum) via Proto-Italic; further etymology uncertain. Possibly from Proto-Indo-European *é(y) or *h₁é + *(-)ḱe.
May be apocopated or back-formed from ecce. An old hypothesis proposed *ed-ke underlying Latin ecce (in which case, all ec- may simply be *ed-) and *ed-ke-om underlying Oscan 𐌄𐌊𐌊𐌖𐌌 (ekkum), comparing the first element of Proto-Slavic *ed-ìnъ (“one”) and *ed(ъ)-và (“only”), which would point to Proto-Indo-European *(h₁)ed-, but the latter is nowadays reconstructed as *h₁edʰ- in accordance with Winter's law.

ec- + -ce → ecce

ec- + quandō → ecquandō

ec- + quis → ecquis

prefixed to interrogatives, has intensive or indefinite force


ec-

ec- + ferō → ecferō


ag-

Euphonic alteration of ad-, assimilating the D into the initial G of the word the prefix is applied to. See also al-

aggressus, aggravatus


ptilo-

Representing the Ancient Greek πτῐ́λον (ptílon, “feather”, “down”).

der

Ptilocercus, Ptilopaedēs


prod-

prōd- + eō → prōdeō

prōd- + esse → prōdesse

prōd- + agō → prōdigō


annulo-

Classical compound in New Latin, from annulus.

(anatomy, medicine) Relating to an annulus (ring).


p͛-

(Medieval Latin) Scribal abbreviation of prae-.


ꝓ-

(Medieval Latin) Scribal abbreviation of pro-.