preface

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.

• General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /ˈpɹɛfəs/
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• General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /ˈpɹɛfɪs/
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• US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• rhymes with -ɛfəs
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• CMU ARPABET: P R EH1 F AH0 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
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Late 14th century, from Middle English preface, prefas, from Old French preface (from which derives the modern French préface), from Medieval Latin prefātia, for classical Latin praefātiō (“a saying beforehand”), from praefor (“to speak beforehand”), from prae- (“beforehand”) + for (“to speak”).

118 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Albanian: parathënie — introduction before the main text
• Southern Altai: кире сӧс (kire sös) — introduction before the main text
• Arabic: مُقَدِّمَة (muqaddima) — introduction before the main text
• Armenian: առաջաբան (aṙaǰaban) — introduction before the main text
• Azerbaijani: müqəddimə — introduction before the main text
• Azerbaijani: önsöz — introduction before the main text
• Belarusian: прадмо́ва (pradmóva) — introduction before the main text
• Bulgarian: пре́дговор (prédgovor) — introduction before the main text
• Bulgarian: предисло́вие (predislóvie) — introduction before the main text
• Burmese: နိဒါန်း (ni.dan:) — introduction before the main text
• Catalan: prefaci — introduction before the main text
• Chinese Mandarin: 序言 (xùyán) — introduction before the main text
• Chinese Mandarin: 序文 (xùwén) — introduction before the main text
• Chinese Mandarin: 前言 (qiányán) — introduction before the main text
• Chinese Mandarin: 緒言 /绪言 (xùyán) — introduction before the main text
• Czech: předmluva — introduction before the main text
• Czech: úvod — introduction before the main text
• Danish: forord — introduction before the main text
• Dutch: voorwoord — introduction before the main text
• Dutch: voorrede — introduction before the main text
• Estonian: eessõna — introduction before the main text
• Finnish: alkusanat — introduction before the main text
• Finnish: johdanto — introduction before the main text
• French: préface — introduction before the main text
• Galician: prefacio — introduction before the main text
• Georgian: წინასიტყვაობა (c̣inasiṭq̇vaoba) — introduction before the main text
• German: Vorwort — introduction before the main text
• German: Vorrede — introduction before the main text
• Greek: πρόλογος (prólogos) — introduction before the main text
• Ancient Greek: προοίμιον (prooímion) — introduction before the main text
• Gujarati: પ્રસ્તાવના (prastāvnā) — introduction before the main text
• Gujarati: દીબાચો (dībāco) — introduction before the main text
• Hindi: प्रस्तावना (prastāvnā) — introduction before the main text
• Hungarian: előszó — introduction before the main text
• Ido: prefaco — introduction before the main text
• Indonesian: kata pengantar — introduction before the main text
• Indonesian: sekapur sirih — introduction before the main text
• Indonesian: mukadimah — introduction before the main text
• Irish: réamhrá — introduction before the main text
• Italian: prefazione — introduction before the main text
• Italian: proemio — introduction before the main text
• Italian: introduzione — introduction before the main text
• Japanese: 序文 (jobun) — introduction before the main text
• Japanese: 前書き (maegaki) — introduction before the main text
• Kazakh: кіріспе (kırıspe) — introduction before the main text
• Khmer: បុព្វកថា (boppĕəʼkaʼthaa) — introduction before the main text
• Korean: 서문 (seomun) — introduction before the main text
• Korean: 머리말 (meorimal) — introduction before the main text
• Korean: 발간사 (balgansa) — introduction before the main text
• Kyrgyz: сөз башы (söz başı) — introduction before the main text
• Latin: praefātiō — introduction before the main text
• Latin: prohoemium — introduction before the main text
• Latvian: priekšvārds — introduction before the main text
• Lithuanian: pratarmė — introduction before the main text
• Macedonian: предговор (predgovor) — introduction before the main text
• Malay: mukadimah — introduction before the main text
• Manchu: ᠶᠠᡵᡠᠨ (yarun) — introduction before the main text
• Māori: kupu takamua — introduction before the main text
• Māori: kupu whakataki — introduction before the main text
• Norman: préfache — introduction before the main text
• Norwegian Bokmål: forord — introduction before the main text
• Occitan: prefaci — introduction before the main text
• Old English: fōresæġdnes — introduction before the main text
• Dari: مُقَدَّمَه (muqaddama) — introduction before the main text
• Dari: دِیبَاچَه (dībāča) — introduction before the main text
• Iranian Persian: مُقَدَّمِه (moġaddame) — introduction before the main text
• Iranian Persian: دیباچِه (dibâče) — introduction before the main text
• Plautdietsch: Väaräd — introduction before the main text
• Polish: wstęp — introduction before the main text
• Polish: przedmowa — introduction before the main text
• Portuguese: prefácio — introduction before the main text
• Romanian: prefață — introduction before the main text
• Russian: предисло́вие (predislóvije) — introduction before the main text
• Russian: введе́ние (vvedénije) — introduction before the main text
• Russian: проло́г (prológ) — introduction before the main text
• Russian: вступле́ние (vstuplénije) — introduction before the main text
• Scottish Gaelic: ro-ràdh — introduction before the main text
• Serbo-Croatian: пре̏дгово̄р — introduction before the main text
• Serbo-Croatian: prȅdgovōr — introduction before the main text
• Slovak: predhovor — introduction before the main text
• Slovak: predslov — introduction before the main text
• Slovak: úvod — introduction before the main text
• Slovene: predgovor — introduction before the main text
• Spanish: prefacio — introduction before the main text
• Swedish: förord — introduction before the main text
• Tagalog: pambungad — introduction before the main text
• Tajik: муқаддима (muqaddima) — introduction before the main text
• Telugu: పీఠిక (pīṭhika) — introduction before the main text
• Thai: คํานํา (kam-nam) — introduction before the main text
• Turkish: önsöz — introduction before the main text
• Ukrainian: передмо́ва (peredmóva) — introduction before the main text
• Urdu: دِیباچَہ (dībāca) — introduction before the main text
• Urdu: مُقَدَّمَہ (muqaddama) — introduction before the main text
• Urdu: تَمْہِید (tamhīd) — introduction before the main text
• Uyghur: مۇقەددىمە (muqeddime) — introduction before the main text
• Uzbek: muqaddima — introduction before the main text
• Uzbek: soʻzboshi — introduction before the main text
• Vietnamese: lời tựa — introduction before the main text
• Welsh: rhagair — introduction before the main text
• Yiddish: הקדמה (hakdome) — introduction before the main text
• Yiddish: האַגדאָמע (hagdome) — introduction before the main text
• Chinese Mandarin: 頌謝詞 /颂谢词 (sòngxiècí) — prayer before the canon of the Mass
• French: préface — prayer before the canon of the Mass
• German: Präfation — prayer before the canon of the Mass
• Hungarian: prefáció — prayer before the canon of the Mass
• Indonesian: prefasi — prayer before the canon of the Mass
• Italian: prefazio — prayer before the canon of the Mass
• Latin: praefātiō — prayer before the canon of the Mass
• Spanish: prefacio — prayer before the canon of the Mass
• French: préfacer — to introduce a text
• Greek: προλογίζω (prologízo) — to introduce a text
• Ido: prefacizar — to introduce a text
• Norman: préfachi — to introduce a text
• Portuguese: prefaciar — to introduce a text
• Russian: предваря́ть (predvarjátʹ) — to introduce a text
• Russian: предпосыла́ть (predposylátʹ) — to introduce a text
• Spanish: introducir — to introduce a text
• Spanish: prologar — to introduce a text