prefix.
Something placed before another
Meaning & usage
Something placed before another 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.
Something placed before another A set of digits placed before a telephone number, to indicate where the number is based, what type of phone number it is (landline, mobile, toll-free, premium rate etc.)
in the UK, a number with an 0800 prefix is a toll-free number.
Add the prefix +34 to dial a Spanish number from abroad
Something placed before another A title added to a person's name, such as Mr. or Dr.
Something placed before another An initial segment of a string of characters.
The string "abra" is both a prefix and a suffix of the string "abracadabra".
Where this word comes from
Borrowed from Late Latin praefīxum, from Latin praefīxus, past participle of praefīgō (“to (fix, fasten, set up) in front”, “to fix on the (end, extremity)”) (from prae- (“before”) + fīgō (“to fix”, “to fasten”, “to affix”)), equivalent to pre- + -fix. Doublet of the archaic synonym prefixum.
To determine beforehand; to set in advance.
They duly arrived at the prefixed hour.
To put or fix before, or at the beginning of something; to place at the start.
His requests for money were usually prefixed by an apology.
You must prefix the number with the area code.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English prefixen, from Middle French prefixer, from Latin praefīxus, past participle of praefīgō (“to (fix, fasten, set up) in front”, “to fix on the (end, extremity)”) (from prae- (“before”) + fīgō (“to fix”, “to fasten”, “to affix”)), equivalent to pre- + -fix.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.