ALPHA PRIVATIVE Definition & Meaning

alpha privative

noun

the prefix a- or, before a vowel, an-, used in Greek and English to express negation or absence.

alpha privative

noun

(in Greek grammar) the letter alpha (or an- before vowels) used as a negative or privative prefix. It appears in English words derived from Greek, as in atheist, anaesthetic

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�y��vlog History and Origins

Origin of alpha privative¹

First recorded in 1580–90

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

Asomuel, meaning insomnia, was a neologism of the artist's own devising, made up of the Greek alpha privative, the Latin somnus, and the Hebrew el, for termination analogous to that of other spirits' names, such as Gabriel, Raphael, Azrael, etc., reproduced in "Early Work," July 1893.

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Again, Quichua has an 'alpha privative'--thus A-stani means 'I change a thing's place;' for ni or mi is the first person singular, and, added to the root of a verb, is the sign of the first person of the present indicative.

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