pre-

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

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

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

• Audio (US)

  (file)

pre-

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

• 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).

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

• (antonym(s) of “anterior”): post-
• (antonym(s) of “beforehand”): after-, post-

• fore
• pre

• “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

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

From Latin prae- (“before”).

pre-

1. before; used to form words meaning "in front of" or "before"
2. before; used to form words meaning superiority or excellence

• “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.

From Latin prae- (“before”).

pre-

1. pre-

From

.

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

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

pre-

1. pre-

From Latin prae- (“before”).

pre-

1. pre-

• per

prē-

1. (Medieval Latin) Alternative form of prae-

From Latin prae.

pre-

1. pre-

• “pre-” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

From Latin prae.

pre-

1. pre-

• “pre-” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• IPA^(key): /prɛ/

pre-

1. pre-

• pre- in Polish dictionaries at PWN

• pré-

From Latin prae-.

pre-

1. pre- (before)

• pri-

• IPA^(key): /pre/

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

pre-

1. used with verbs to indicate repetition or insistence

Examples: presăra, prelinge. Compare also prevedea, priveghea

Borrowed from French pre-, Latin prae-.

1. pre-

• ante-

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *per-.

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.

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").

From Proto-Slavic *per-.

• IPA^(key): /prɛ-/

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”)

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

pre-

1. pre-

   Antonyms: post-, pos-

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