I. transitive verb
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French prefixer, from Latin praefixus
Date: 15th century
1. (ˌ)prē-ˈfiks : to fix or appoint beforehand
2. ˈprē-ˌ, prē-ˈ
[partly from prefix (II)]
: to place in front ; especially : to add as a prefix
prefix a syllable to a word
II. ˈprē-ˌfiks noun
Etymology: New Latin praefixum, from Latin, neuter of praefixus, past participle of praefigere to fasten before, from prae- + figere to fasten — more at fix
Date: 1646
1. : an affix attached to the beginning of a word, base, or phrase and serving to produce a derivative word or an inflectional form — compare suffix
2. : a title used before a person's name
• pre·fix·al ˈprē-ˌfik-səl, prē-ˈ adjective
III. same as 2 adjective
Date: 1971
: characterized by placement of an operator before its operand or before its two operands if it is a binary operator — compare infix , postfix