con-
English
Alternative forms
Etymology 1
From Middle English con-, from Latin con-, from cum (“with”).
Prefix
con-
Usage notes
Con- becomes
- col- before l: collaborate;
- com- before b, m, and p: combat, commit, compel;
- cor- before r: correlation;
It can also appear as co-: coexistence, cosine.
Translations
Etymology 2
Back-formation from conlang, short for "constructed language".
Prefix
con-
- attached to certain words to obtain new, informal, subcultural words in which con- conveys a notion of:
- constructed, artificial
- hypothetical, fictional
- related to conlangs, conworlds, etc.
Derived terms
Derived terms
Dutch
Etymology
Ultimately from Latin con-. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /kɔn/
Audio (file)
Derived terms
French
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /kɔ̃/
Usage notes
Behaves as it does in English; see English usage notes.
Gaulish
Etymology
From Proto-Celtic *kom- (“with, together”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm. Cognate with Old Irish com-, Welsh cyf-, Breton kev- or kem-.
Italian
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /kon/
- Hyphenation: con-
Latin
Etymology
From the preposition cum (“with”).
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /kon/, [kɔn]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /kon/, [kon]
Prefix
con-
- Used in compounds to indicate a being or bringing together of several objects
- Used in compounds to indicate the completeness, perfecting of any act, and thus gives intensity to the signification of the simple word
Usage notes
- Before vowels and h, the prefix becomes co-, or rarely com-. Excluded are i and u when these represent /j/ and /w/.
- Before b, m and p, the prefix becomes com-.
- Before l, the prefix becomes col-.
- Before r, the prefix becomes cor-.
- Before n, the prefix becomes cō- (or remains con-, in Late Latin).
- Before original gn, the prefix becomes co- and gn is not reduced to n.
As usual in Latin phonology, the sequences ons and onf are pronounced with nasalised long vowels, and the vowel is written with a macron, i.e. cōnspīrō and cōnferō.
Derived terms
References
- “con-”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
Middle English
Alternative forms
Etymology
Borrowed from Old French con- and Latin con-.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /kɔn-/, /kun-/
Derived terms
References
- “con-, cǒn-, pref.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Spanish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /kon/ [kõn]
- Syllabification: con-
Usage notes
- Before the letters b or p use the form com-. Sometimes the co- form is used instead.
Further reading
- “con-”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014