The building blocks of English

Affixes

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).