s-

See also: S-, ś-, and Appendix:Variations of "s"

Languages (21)

Ahtna • Albanian • Cayuga • Czech • Egyptian • Italian • Javanese • Lushootseed • Maltese • Mohawk • Navajo • Neapolitan • Old Irish • Old Polish • Old Tupi • Oneida • Polish • Senhaja de Srair • Serbo-Croatian • Wailaki

Page categories

English

Etymology 1

Abbreviation of scalar (“particle with spin 0”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /s/

Prefix

s-

(physics) Subatomic particles with a spin (quantum angular momentum) of 0, predicted by supersymmetry; the bosonic equivalent of known fermions.

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Abbreviation of sec- (“secondary”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ɛs/

Prefix

s-

(organic chemistry) secondary form
Synonym: sec-

Coordinate terms: (normal form) n-, (tertiary form) t-

Etymology 3

Abbreviation of super.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /s/

Prefix

s-

Super.

Derived terms

squbit

Ahtna

Etymology

Compare Navajo sh-

Prefix

s-

marks a first person singular possessor; my
‎s- + ‎-taʼ (“father”) → ‎staʼ (“my father”)
marks a first person singular object of a postposition
‎s- + ‎-kʼe (“on”) → ‎skʼe (“on me”)

References

Kari, James (1990), Ahtna Athabaskan Dictionary, Fairbanks, Alaska: Alaska Native Language Center, →ISBN, page 35

Albanian

Prefix

s-

intensifier

Cayuga

Alternative forms

-hs-

Prefix

s-

second person agent pronominal prefix; you

References

Marianne Mithun; Reginald Henry (1982), Wadęwayę́stanih - A Cayuga Teaching Grammar, 3rd edition, Woodland Cultural Centre, published 2015, page 54

Czech

Etymology

s used as a prefix.

Prefix

s-

a prefix, usually indicating either movement together or movement downwards
direction from top down
‎s- + ‎jít → ‎sejít

Sešel dolů. ― He came down.
direction toward the middle
‎s- + ‎jít → ‎sejít

Sejdeme se zítra. ― We will gather tomorrow.

Egyptian

Etymology

From Proto-Afroasiatic *s- (causative prefix). Compare Central Atlas Tamazight ⵙⵙ- (ss-).

Pronunciation

(modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /sɛ/
- Conventional anglicization: se-

Prefix

Used to form a causative verb from a non-causative verb.

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of s-

s

Derived terms

References

James P[eter] Allen (2010), Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 157.

Italian

Etymology

In most cases, this prefix stems from Latin ex- (see ex). In some cases, it stems from Latin dis-.^[1]

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /s/ (before voiceless consonants)
IPA^(key): /z/ (before voiced consonants)

Prefix

s-

used to form words that have an opposing sense: un-, in-
‎s- + ‎fatto (“done”, “made”) → ‎sfatto (“(of a bed) unmade”)
used to form verbs that have a sense of undoing an action: de-, dis-, un-
‎s- + ‎gancio (“hook”) → ‎sganciare (“to unhook”)

‎s- + ‎borsa (“bag”) → ‎sborsare (“to disburse”)
used to express a pejorative sense
‎s- + ‎bocca (“mouth”) → ‎sboccato (“foul-mouthed”)
used to form verbs with a sense of exit, separation: dis-, ex-, trans-
‎s- + ‎buco (“hole”) → ‎sbucare (“to pop out”)

‎s- + ‎confine (“boundary”) → ‎sconfinare (“to stray away from”)
used in a privative sense: a-, de-, un-
‎s- + ‎buccia (“skin”, “peel”) → ‎sbucciare (“to peel”)

‎s- + ‎fame (“hunger”) → ‎sfamare (“to feed”, “to satiate”)
used to derive verbs from a noun, adjective or verb
‎s- + ‎bianco (“white”) → ‎sbiancare (“to whiten or bleach”)

‎s- + ‎gocciola (“droplet”) → ‎sgocciolare (“to drip”)
used as an intensifier
‎s- + ‎cacciare (“to hunt”, “to drive away”) → ‎scacciare (“to expel”, “to drive away”)
reduced form of dis-
discendere (“to descend”) → scendere

Usage notes

Often used to prefix words beginning with a consonant. Dis- rather than s- is often preferred before vowels.

Derived terms

Italian terms prefixed with s-

References

^ Migliorini, Bruno with Aldo Duro (1950), “s-”, in Prontuario etimologico della lingua italiana (in Italian), Paravia

Javanese

Etymology

Inherited from Old Javanese sa-, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *əsa, from Proto-Austronesian *əsa.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /sa/, /sə/

Prefix

s-

one

Alternative forms

ꦱ- (sa-)
ꦱꦼ- (se-)

Derived terms

Javanese terms prefixed with s-

Lushootseed

Prefix

s-

Added to a verb to form a noun.
‎s- + ‎ʔəɬəd (“eat”) → ‎sʔəɬəd (“food”)

Maltese

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /s/

Article

s-

alternative form of il-

Usage notes

Used after a vowel and before the letter s. For details on usage, see the main lemma.

Mohawk

From Proto-North Iroquoian *se, ultimately from Proto-Iroquoian *hsi.

Etymology 1

Alternative forms

se- (before n-, r-, w-, and ’-stems)

Prefix

s-

pronominal prefix for
you _____

Etymology 2

From Proto-North Iroquoian *ts, ultimately from Proto-Iroquoian *ts.

Alternative forms

-	Initial consonant
Environment	t/s/h/k	n/r/w/’	a	e/en	o/on	i	y
Word-Initial	s-	se-	s-	s-	s-	ts-	ts-

Prefix

s-

singulative noun prefix
iterative verb prefix

References

Gunther Michelson (1973), A thousand words of Mohawk, University of Ottawa Press, page 9
Nora Deering; Helga H. Delisle (1976), Mohawk: A teaching grammar (preliminary version), Quebec: Manitou College, pages 146, 344

Navajo

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /s-/

Prefix

s-

alternative form of si-, which marks third person of si-perfective verbs

Usage notes

This form of the affix is used with ł-, l-, and d- classifier verbs.

Neapolitan

Etymology

Inherited from Latin ex-.

Prefix

s-

privative or negative affix that attaches to verbs

Derived terms

Neapolitan terms prefixed with s-

sfracassare

smerciare

spetacciare

Old Irish

Prefix

s- (class A infixed pronoun, triggers nasalization in some texts but not in others)

her (object pronoun)
them

Derived terms

Old Irish terms prefixed with s-

Old Polish

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): (10^th–15^th CE) /s/
IPA^(key): (15^th CE) /s/

Prefix

s-

alternative form of z-

Derived terms

Old Polish terms prefixed with s-

Old Tupi

Etymology

Cognate with Guajá, Mbya Guarani, and Paraguayan Guarani h-.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /s/

Prefix

s-

serves as a dummy pronoun in pluriform transitive verbs
Coordinate term: i (with nonpluriform verbs)

‎a- (first-person prefix) + ‎s- + ‎aûsub (“to love”) → ‎asaûsub (“I love it”)
forms the R2 form of IIa, IIc, IId and IIe class adjectives and verbs
‎s- + ‎oka (“house”) → ‎soka (“their house”)
forms the absolute form of IIe class adjectives and verbs
‎s- + ‎akã (“branch”) → ‎sakã (“the branch”)

Oneida

Prefix

s-

second person agent pronominal prefix; you

References

Floyd Lounsbury (1953), Oneida Verb Morphology, Yale University Press, pages 59-60

Polish

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /s/
Audio: (file)
Rhymes: -s
Syllabification: s-
Homophones: z, z-

Prefix

s-

used before voiceless consonants to form a verb in a perfective aspect from a verb in an imperfective aspect
‎s- + ‎całkować → ‎scałkować

‎s- + ‎chłodzić → ‎schłodzić
used before voiceless consonants to mean "in a downward direction"
‎s- + ‎chodzić → ‎schodzić
used before voiceless consonants to mean "off, off the surface of", "away from", or "out of"
Antonym: na-

‎s- + ‎chodzić → ‎schodzić

Derived terms

Polish terms prefixed with s-

Senhaja de Srair

Prefix

s- (Tifinagh spelling ⵙ-)

allomorph of ss-

Usage notes

Used when the prefix is immediately followed by a consonant.

Serbo-Croatian

Alternative forms

sa- (before affricates, fricatives and certain consonant clusters)

Prefix

s- (Cyrillic spelling с-)

Prepended to verbs, usually forming a perfective from an imperfective verb.
‎s- + ‎pùstiti → ‎spùstiti

‎s- + ‎znȁti → ‎sàznati

‎s- + ‎lòmiti → ‎slòmiti

‎s- + ‎glȅdati → ‎sàgledati

‎s- + ‎kȕpiti → ‎skȕpiti

‎s- + ‎klòniti → ‎sklòniti

‎s- + ‎náći → ‎snȃći

Derived terms

Serbo-Croatian terms prefixed with s-

References

“s-”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2025

Wailaki

Etymology

Cognate with Hupa s-. Compare also Navajo si-.

Prefix

s-

Marks the perfective mode

Usage notes

s- is used in third person verbs without classifiers, first person singular verbs with classifiers, and some impersonal forms; otherwise, it is generally realized as si-.
Before root initial /tʃ/, this prefix is palatalized to /ʃ/.

Related terms

ɣin-
ɣees-

References

Begay, Kayla Rae (2017), Wailaki Grammar, University of California, Berkeley, page 179

[1] Migliorini, Bruno with Aldo Duro (1950), “s-”, in Prontuario etimologico della lingua italiana (in Italian), Paravia

[1]

	singular	plural
1st person	s-	ne-
2nd person	ne-	nhw-
3rd person	b-, y-	ku-, hw-
Reflexive	de-	hde-
Indefinite	cʼe-
Areal (postpositional only)	ko-
Reciprocal	nił-

person	infixed			suffixed
See Appendix:Old Irish affixed pronouns for details on how these forms are used. Note that the so-called “infixed” pronouns are technically prefixes, but they are never the first prefix in a verbal complex.
person	class A	class B	class C	suffixed
1 sg	m-^L	dom-^L, dam-^L		-um
2 sg	t-^L	dot-^L, dat-^L, dut-^L, dit-^L		-ut
3 sg m	a-^N, e-^N	d-^N	id-^N, did-^N, d-^N	-i, -it
3 sg f	s-^(N)	da-		-us
3 sg n	a-^L, e-^L	d-^L	id-^L, did-^L, d-^L	-i, -it
1 pl	n-	don-, dun-, dan-		-unn
2 pl	b-	dob-, dub-, dab-		-uib
3 pl	s-^(N)	da-		-us

English

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

Prefix

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

Prefix

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

Prefix

Derived terms

Ahtna

Etymology

Prefix

See also

References

Albanian

Prefix

Cayuga

Alternative forms

Prefix

References

Czech

Etymology

Prefix

Antonyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Further reading

Egyptian

Etymology

Pronunciation

Prefix

Alternative forms

Derived terms

References

Italian

Etymology

Pronunciation

Prefix

Usage notes

Derived terms

See also

References

Javanese

Etymology

Pronunciation

Prefix

Alternative forms

Derived terms

Lushootseed

Prefix

Maltese

Pronunciation

Article

Usage notes

Mohawk

Etymology 1

Alternative forms

Prefix

Etymology 2

Alternative forms

Prefix

References

Navajo

Pronunciation

Prefix

Usage notes

Neapolitan

Etymology

Prefix

Derived terms

Old Irish

Prefix

Derived terms

See also

Old Polish

Pronunciation

Prefix