for-

See also for, For, FOR, för, før, fór, fôr, fòr, and for.

English

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old English for- (“far, away, completely”, prefix), from Proto-Germanic *fur-, *fer-, *fra- (“far, away, fully”, prefix), from Proto-Indo-European *pro-, *per-, *pr- (prefix). Cognate with West Frisian fer-, Dutch ver-, German ver-, Swedish för-, Danish for-, Norwegian for-, Latin per-. More at for.

Pronunciation

• (stressed) IPA: /fɔː/
• (unstressed) IPA: /fə/

Prefix

for-

1. (no longer productive) Meaning far, away; from eg. forbid, forget, forsay; forbear.
2. (no longer productive) Meaning completely, to the fullest extent eg. fordo; superceded by up in senses that do not denote upward movement eg. forgive = give up (one's offenses), forgather = "gather up".
3. (dialectal) Very; excessively.

   forolded (“very old”)

   fornigh (“very near”)

Derived terms

[+] English words prefixed with for-

See also

• fore-

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French

Alternative forms

• four-, fre-

Etymology

From Middle French, from Old French for-, partially from Late Latin forīs, taken as an adaptation of the Late Latin adverb forīs (“outdoors, outside”) and used to calque Germanic words prefixed by *fur- (“for-”) (compare Late Latin foris facere (“to do wrong”) = Old High German firwirken (“to do wrong”), Late Latin forisfactus (“evil deed”) = Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐍅𐌰𐌿𐌷𐍄𐍃 (frawauhts, “evil deed”), Late Latin foris consiliare (“to mislead”) = Old High German firleitan (“to mislead”), etc.), and partially continuing Germanic *fur-, from Proto-Germanic *fur-, *fir-, *fra- (“away, from, off”), from Proto-Indo-European *pro-, *per-, *pr-. See for-. Related to French fors (“except”), French hors (“outside”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: fɔʁ

Prefix

for-

1. (nonproductive) prefix used to express error, exclusion, or inadequacy.

Related terms

• forban
• forcené
• forclore
• forclusion
• forfaire
• forfait
• forjeter
• formariage
• formarier
• fourbu
• fourvoiement
• fourvoyer

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Icelandic

Prefix

for-

1. previous, before, first, pre-

   for- + síða (“page”) ⇒ forsíða (“front page”)

2. (emphatic) extremely
3. negative meaning

Derived terms

[+] Icelandic words prefixed with for-

Terms derived from for- meaning “before”

forstjóri

formaður forsjáll

Terms derived from for- used emphatically

fordjúpur

Terms derived from for- used to imbue a negative meaning

forbjóða

forbænir

Synonyms

• (before): fyrir-

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Old English

Etymology

Proto-Germanic *fer-, *fur-, *fra- (“away, far”), from Proto-Indo-European *pro-, *per-, *pr- with a variety of meanings including ‘rejection, destruction, prohibition’. Cognate with Old Frisian for-, Old Saxon far-, for-, Dutch ver-, Old High German fir-, far- (German ver-), and, outside Germanic, with Ancient Greek περί, Latin per-, Old Church Slavonic пре- (Russian пере-).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /for/

Prefix

for-

1. forming verbs from verbs with various senses especially ‘wrongly, away from, astray, abstention, prohibition, perversion, destruction’

   forwyrcan (“to do wrong, sin”)

   forstandan (“to defend, protect, stand for”)

   forweorpan (“to throw away, cast away, reject”)

   forstelan (“to steal away, deprive”)

   fordēman (“to condemn”)

   forlǣdan (“to mislead”)

2. used to create intensified adjectives and verbs from other adjectives and verbs, with the sense of completely or fully. Compare Modern English use of up

   forblāwan (“to blow up, inflate”)

   forstoppian (“to stop up, block, occlude”)

   forworen (“decayed, decrepit”)

   forbrocen (“broken down"; "broken up”)

3. very

   forlȳtel (“very little”)