prefix · 6 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
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stressed:/dɛ/
stressed:/diː/
unstressed:/də/
unstressed:/dɪ/
1
prefix
Meaning 1
reversal, undoing
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: morpheme
Examples
de- + couple → decouple
de- + align → dealign
de- + ice → de-ice
de- + baptize → debaptize
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
prefix
Meaning 2
to remove from, removed
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: morpheme
Examples
de- + bus → debus
de- + bark → debark
de- + benzylate → debenzylate
de- + arterialization → dearterialization
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
3
prefix
Meaning 3
Intensifying
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: morpheme
Examples
de- + fraud → defraud
de- + complex → decomplex
de- + numerate → denumerate
de- + pauperize → depauperize
de- + prostrate → deprostrate
de- + specificate → despecificate
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
4
prefix
Meaning 4
derived from, of
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: morpheme
Examples
de- + substantival → desubstantival
de- + verbal → deverbal
de- + mise → demise
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
5
prefix
Meaning 5
down, downward
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: morpheme
Examples
de- + scando → descend
de- + press → depress
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
6
prefix
Meaning 6
Unisex prefix used in African-American given names.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: US, morpheme
Qualifier: African-American Vernacular
Examples
De- + Shawna → DeShawna
De- + Angelo → DeAngelo
De- + Andre → DeAndre
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *de Proto-Indo-European *-h1 Proto-Indo-European *déh1 Proto-Italic *dē Latin dē Latin dē-der. English de- From Latin dē-, from the preposition dē (“of”, “from”). For sense development, compare Old English æf-, which was a similar prefix.
Across languages
Translations
81 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Afrikaans:
de-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Albanian:
de-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Armenian:
ապ-
(ap-)
— reversal, undoing or removing
Asturian:
de-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Asturian:
des-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Belarusian:
дэ-
(de-)
— reversal, undoing or removing
Bulgarian:
де-
(de-)
— reversal, undoing or removing
Catalan:
de-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Catalan:
des-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Chinese Mandarin:
去-
(qù-)
— reversal, undoing or removing
Czech:
de-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Danish:
af-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Danish:
de-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Dutch:
ver-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Dutch:
ont-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Dutch:
de-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Estonian:
de-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Finnish:
de-
— reversal, undoing or removing
French:
dé-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Galician:
de-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Galician:
des-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Georgian:
უკუ-
(uḳu-)
— reversal, undoing or removing
Georgian:
დე-
(de-)
— reversal, undoing or removing
German:
ent-
— reversal, undoing or removing
German:
de-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Greek:
απο-
(apo-)
— reversal, undoing or removing
Hebrew:
דֵּה־
(de-)
— reversal, undoing or removing
Hungarian:
de-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Indonesian:
de-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Italian:
dis-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Italian:
de-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Japanese:
非-
(hi-)
— reversal, undoing or removing
Japanese:
脱-
(datsu-)
— reversal, undoing or removing
Japanese:
逆-
(saka-)
— reversal, undoing or removing
Korean:
비
(bi)
— reversal, undoing or removing
Korean:
탈
(tal)
— reversal, undoing or removing
Latvian:
de-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Lithuanian:
de-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Macedonian:
де-
(de-)
— reversal, undoing or removing
Malay:
nyah-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Malay:
de-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Middle English:
dis-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Middle English:
de-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Norwegian Bokmål:
av-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Norwegian Bokmål:
de-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Norwegian Nynorsk:
av-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Norwegian Nynorsk:
de-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Occitan:
des-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Persian:
وا
(vâ-)
— reversal, undoing or removing
Polish:
de-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Polish:
dez-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Polish:
roz-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Polish:
od-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Portuguese:
de-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Portuguese:
dis-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Portuguese:
des-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Romanian:
de-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Romanian:
des-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Romanian:
dez-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Russian:
де-
(de-)
— reversal, undoing or removing
Scottish Gaelic:
di-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Serbo-Croatian:
де-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Serbo-Croatian:
de-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Slovak:
de-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Slovene:
de-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Spanish:
de-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Spanish:
des-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Swedish:
av-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Swedish:
de-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Tagalog:
hi-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Tagalog:
de-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Turkish:
de-
— reversal, undoing or removing
Ukrainian:
де-
(de-)
— reversal, undoing or removing
Vietnamese:
phi
— reversal, undoing or removing
Yiddish:
דע־
(de-)
— reversal, undoing or removing
