a prefix from latin de down, from, away; as in debark, decline, decease, deduct, decamp. in words from the french it is equivalent to latin dis-apart, away; or sometimes to de. ·cf. dis-. it is negative and opposite in derange, deform, destroy, ·etc. it is intensive in deprave, despoil, declare, desolate, ·etc.
DE-
Meaning of DE- in English
Webster English vocab. Английский словарь Webster. 2012