de-

Morpheme

de-

Type

prefix

Denotation

down, down from, from, off, off, away, from among; through, throughout, in different directions, between; negating prefix, often denoting completely, totally; also often merely intensive, denoting thoroughly, entirely

Etymology

(1) Latin de; (2) Old French de-, from des-; Latin dī-, from dis-

Evidence

deactivate, debark, debrief, debut, decay, deciduous, declutter, decompress, decrease, defenestrate, deflate, defrost, defy, degradation, deligotype, deluge, denigrate, deplete, deprecate, depress, dereism, dereistic, derive, descend, despair, desparate, detach, device, devise

See Also

des-, dis-, Decal

Homographs

De, De