cross-

See also: cross, Cross, and crôs

English

Etymology

From Middle English cros-, crosse- (“relating to a cross, forming a cross, in the shape of a cross or x”), from the noun (see cross) and also from across.

Prefix

cross-

1. Expressing mutuality or exchange; switch.
2. across.
   • 1967, William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson, Logan's Run, May 1976 Bantam edition, →ISBN, page 14:

     The room was a cross-mixture of voices.

     "Come in Kelly 4. […] "

     "Come in Stanhope. […] "

     "Evans 9. Confirm. […] "

3. Indicating applicability to several domains that are usually separate (as in crossclass, crosslinguistic, cross-platform).

Synonyms

• x- (abbreviation)

Derived terms

English terms prefixed with cross-

• cross-bencher
• crossbody
• cross-browser
• cross-dresser
• cross-link
• cross-talk
• cross-train

 

Translations

indicating an exchange or switch

• Irish: tras-
• Scottish Gaelic: tair-

indicating a direction (across)

• Azerbaijani: köndələn (az)
• Danish: tvær-
• Faroese: tvør-
• Icelandic: þver-
• Irish: tras-
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tverr-

  Nynorsk: tverr-

• Scottish Gaelic: tair-

References

• “cross-”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.