Standard Lemma guide

neo-

prefix · 5 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

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈniːəʊ/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˈnioʊ/

1

prefix

Meaning 1

Combining form of new.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: form-of, in-compounds, morpheme

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

prefix

Meaning 2

contemporary

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: morpheme

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

prefix

Meaning 3

Having a structure, similar to that of neopentane, in which each hydrogen atom of a methyl group has been replaced by an alkyl group

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: morpheme

Topics: chemistry, natural-sciences, organic-chemistry, physical-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

prefix

Meaning 4

Being a newly-discovered or -synthesized variant of an existing compound

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: morpheme

Topics: chemistry, natural-sciences, organic-chemistry, physical-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

prefix

Meaning 5

surgically created

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: especially, morpheme

Topics: medicine, sciences, surgery

Examples

  • neo- + penis → neopenis
  • neo- + labia → neolabia

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *nu Proto-Indo-European *néwos Proto-Hellenic *néwos Ancient Greek νέος (néos) Ancient Greek νεο- (neo-)der. English neo- From Ancient Greek prefix νεο- (neo-), from νέος (néos, “new, young”).

Across languages

Translations

36 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: նոր- (nor-) — new
  • Armenian: նեո- (neo-) — new
  • Bengali: নও- (noō-) — new
  • Chinese Mandarin: 新- (xīn) — new
  • Finnish: neo- — new
  • Finnish: uus- — new
  • German: neo- — new
  • German: neu- — new
  • Greek: νεο- (neo-) — new
  • Hindi: नव (nav) — new
  • Hindi: नव्य (navya) — new
  • Hungarian: neo- — new
  • Irish: neo- — new
  • Italian: neo- — new
  • Japanese: 新- (shin-) — new
  • Macedonian: нео- (neo-) — new
  • Macedonian: ново- (novo-) — new
  • Norwegian Bokmål: neo- — new
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: neo- — new
  • Persian: نو (now-) — new
  • Persian: نئو (ne'o-) — new
  • Polish: neo- — new
  • Portuguese: neo- — new
  • Russian: нео- (neo-) — new
  • Russian: ново- (novo-) — new
  • Spanish: neo- — new
  • Swedish: neo- — new
  • German: neo- — contemporary
  • Greek: νεο- (neo-) — contemporary
  • Italian: neo- — contemporary
  • Japanese: 現- (gen-) — contemporary
  • Japanese: 現代- (gendai-) — contemporary
  • Polish: neo- — contemporary
  • Portuguese: neo- — contemporary
  • Russian: ново- (novo-) — contemporary
  • Spanish: neo- — contemporary