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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…
| français | English | ajouté à | added to | |
| amoral | amoral | moral | moral | |
| apesanteur | weightlessness | pesanteur | weightiness | |
| areligieux | areligious non-religious |
religieux | religious | |
| asymétrie | asymmetry | symétrie | symmetry | |
| atoxique | non-toxic | toxique | toxic |
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-
| français | English | ajouté à | added to | |
| anaérobie | anaerobic | aérobie | aerobic | |
| analphabète | illiterate | alphabète | literate | |
| anharmonique | anharmonic | harmonique | harmonic |
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