prefix to

prefix (something) to (something else)

To attach a particular prefix to the beginning of a word. Confusingly, prefixing "in-" to "flammable" doesn't create a negative, which is what you would normally expect. You need to prefix something to it if you want to change it from a noun to a verb.
See also: prefix
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

prefix something to something

to place something at the beginning of a word or part of a word. If you prefix a re- to some verbs, you get an entirely different meaning. You can't prefix anything to some verbs.
See also: prefix
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • prefix
  • prefix (something) to (something else)
  • attach
  • attach oneself to
  • attach to
  • attached
  • attached to
  • label (someone, something, or oneself) with (something)
  • label with
  • accentuate
References in periodicals archive
HMRC has admitted applying an S prefix to some people, meaning they are paying Scottish rates.
Welsh hit by HMRC income tax blunder
Then, we convert each prefix to a corresponding unique number using the prefix numericalization scheme defined in [19].
Secure and Efficient Cluster-Based Range Query Processing in Wireless Sensor Networks
Data from the PWA were used to determine if participants demonstrated that adding a prefix to a root word altered the meaning of the root word.
The effects of morphemic vocabulary instruction on prefix vocabulary and sentence comprehension for middle school students with learning disabilities
In Layer-3, we choose certain bits in IP prefix to cut rulesets.
Prefix cuttings for packet classification with fast updates
The reader starts a query with a null string e; if this causes a collision, the reader pushes new queries onto the stack and pops prefix to a new query until the stack is empty.
An efficient adaptive anticollision algorithm based on 4-Ary pruning query tree
Thus, in (46a), the subminimal, monosyllabic nouns /go/ acquire an epenthetic i- prefix to produce the required two syllables: (20)
Directional asymmetries in the morphology and phonology of words, with special reference to Bantu
Furthermore, these gaps do not form any regular pattern and the percentages indicating the low degree of prefixation in particular cells of the listed paradigms considerably differ, disproving the prefix to be obligatory.
The pre-verbal I- in early Middle English: an analysis of the formal parameters of the prefixed verbs
According to Testen, this syllabification of [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] after a vowelless prefix to [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] before the stem vowel [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] reflects the original situation in Semitic.
The markers of person, gender, and number in the prefixes of G-preformative conjugations in Semitic
In the case of foods naturally low in energy, the term "naturally" may be used as a prefix to this claim.
CONSUMER POLICY: COMMISSION IN FOOD CLAIMS CLAMPDOWN
Arkansas Children's Hospital's telephone lines have been converted from the "320" prefix to "364." The last four digits of individual extensions will remain unchanged.
Children's Hospital gets new prefix. (Hospital Notes)
Coventry's 01203 code was switched off on August 19, to be replaced by the 024 code and the 76 prefix to the existing six digit number.
Times of change
BT will offer three tariffs, each with a special prefix to the numbers customers will use for dialup.
BT Offers ISPs Revenue Share Scheme
Now we expand the new prefix to be added and scan the array elements in the node that it affects.
Fast Address Lookups Using Controlled Prefix Expansion
"Sex" (the act) became "sex" the DNA bifurcation; that laboratory definition of "sex" became literally "gender" (technically incorrect, since the latter is really a grammatical term); "gender" became a prefix to "studies," which became a prefix to "of repression"; and then the whole daisy chain looped back to the sexual act in terms of what a big, fat fuckin' downer it really is.
Deja vu all over again