Hold prefix as: a small piece fixed onto the front of something bigger, so that it now comes first and changes how the whole thing is read. 'un' before 'tie', a code before a phone number, 'Dr' before a name — the piece is short, it sits in front, and it never stands alone.
From the word’s history
Latin prae- 'before' + figere 'to fix, fasten' — literally 'fastened in front', which is exactly what a prefix does to a word, a number, or a name.
拉丁文的 prae-（在前面）加上 figere（固定、釘上），合起來就是「釘在前面」。這個字面意思到今天幾乎沒有磨損：不管接的是一個字、一串號碼還是一個名字，動作都還是「拿一小段釘在前頭」。順帶一提，figere 這個根也活在 fix（固定）裡面，兩個字是同一家人。
Oxford English Dictionary / Merriam-Webster etymology entry for “prefix”
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原始詞典資料6 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
prefixnoun詞源 1/ˈpɹiːfɪks/
- 1
grammarhuman-scienceslinguistic-morphologySomething placed before another
- The chosen prefixes won the vote in part because they start with the only two letters left in the alphabet that are not already used in measurement. The b for “bronto” is already used for bytes and h for “hella” is used for hecto, the prefix for 100.
- 2
communicationselectrical-engineeringengineeringSomething placed before another
- in the UK, a number with an 0800 prefix is a toll-free number.
- Add the prefix +34 to dial a Spanish number from abroad
- 3
Something placed before another
- 4
computingengineeringmathematicsSomething placed before another
- The string "abra" is both a prefix and a suffix of the string "abracadabra".
prefixverb詞源 2/ˈpɹiːfɪks/
- 1
To determine beforehand; to set in advance.
- They duly arrived at the prefixed hour.
- But the danger was, that a man can hardly prefix any certaine limits unto his desire[…].
- 2
To put or fix before, or at the beginning of something; to place at the start.
- His requests for money were usually prefixed by an apology.
- You must prefix the number with the area code.
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。