English

an-

not; used to make words that have a sense opposite to the word (or stem) to which the prefix is attached. Used with stems that begin with vowels and "h".

    Etymology graph

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    Origin

    From Ancient Greek ἀν- (an-). Doublet of un- and in-.

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • derivedAncient Greekἀν- “without”
      • derivedAncient Greekἀ- “not”
        • inheritedProto-Hellenic*ə-
          • inheritedProto-Indo-European*n̥- “un-”
        • derivedAncient Greekβιωτικός “of life”
          • partAncient Greekβῐ́ος “life”
          • suffixAncient Greek-ῐκός “-ic”
        • derivedAncient Greekκαρπός “fruit”
          • derivedProto-Indo-European*kerp- “to harvest, pluck”
        • derived (ultimately)Proto-Indo-European*bʰeh₂- “to speak”

    Related: English in- (doublet), English un- (doublet)

    Sources