A- Prefix

A- French prefix
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Le préfixe a– et sa variante

The French prefix a– is added to adjectives and nouns to create their antonyms; it’s sometimes called the "alpha privative" (a privatif). The most common English equivalents are a– and non-.

Par exemple…

françaisEnglish ajouté àadded to
amoralamoral moralmoral
apesanteurweightlessness pesanteurweightiness
areligieuxareligious
non-religious
 religieuxreligious
asymétrie asymmetry  symétrie symmetry
atoxiquenon-toxic toxiquetoxic

Variation: an-

While a- is the most common spelling, it can only be added to words that begin with a consonant. When the a privatif precedes a vowel or h, a- changes to an-

françaisEnglish ajouté àadded to
anaérobieanaerobic aérobieaerobic
analphabèteilliterate  alphabèteliterate
anharmoniqueanharmonic harmoniqueharmonic

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French prefix a

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