Go to 'thermo-' entry Go to 'dino-' entry Go to 'chondro-' entry Go to 'aero-' entry Go to '-logy' entry Go to 'thaumato-' entry Go to 'nano-' entry Go to '-sophy' entry Go to 'bucco-' entry Go to '-ism' entry Go to '-lysis' entry Go to 'galacto-' entry Go to '-anthropy' entry Go to 'pneumo-' entry Go to '-ploitation' entry Go to '-lithic' entry Go to '-sepalous' entry Go to 'onco-' entry Go to '-parous' entry Go to 'dermato-' entry Go to 'multi-' entry Go to 'dodeca-' entry Go to '-zoon' entry Go to 'vermi-' entry Go to 'crystallo-' entry Go to 'biblio-' entry Go to 'eco-' entry Go to 'juxta-' entry Go to 'facio-' entry
Affixes: the building blocks of English
Affixes: the building blocks of English
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ab- Also abs-.

Off, away, or from.

[Latin ab-, with the same meaning.]

This is not a living prefix; words containing it were imported into the language from Latin, often with a figurative sense.

Some examples are abdicate (dicare, to declare), to renounce the throne; aborigine (ab origine, from the beginning), an inhabitant of a place from earliest times; abort, to terminate a pregnancy (oriri, be born); and abuse, to use something improperly (abuti, to misuse, from uti, to use).

Abs- is used before c and t, as in abscess (cedere, to go), abscond (concere, to hide or stow), and abstruse (trudere, to push).

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