for-

From Middle English for-, vor-, from Old English for-, fer-, fær-, fyr- (“far, away, completely”, prefix), from the merger of Proto-Germanic *fra- ("away, away from"; see fro, from) and Proto-Germanic *fur-, *far- (“through, completely, fully”), from Proto-Indo-European *pro-, *per-, *pr-. Cognate with Scots for-, West Frisian fer-, for-, Dutch ver-, German ver-, Swedish för-, Danish for-, Norwegian for-, Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌰- (fra-), Latin pro-. More at for.

• (stressed) IPA^(key): /fɔː(ɹ)/
• (unstressed) IPA^(key): /fə(ɹ)/

for-

1. (no longer productive) Far, away; from, out.

   forbid, forget, forsay; forbear, fordeem

2. (no longer productive) Completely; to the fullest extent; superseded by combinations with up in senses where no upward movement is involved, e.g. forgive = "give up (one's offenses)", forgather = "gather up", forbeat = "beat up".

   forbreak

3. (dialectal, obsolete) Very; excessively.

   forolded (“very old”)

   fornigh (“very near”)

• fore-

• 'fro, ORF, fro, orf

From Old Norse for-, from Proto-Germanic *fra-.

for-

1. Makes verbs from adjectives meaning "to cause to be [adjective]".

   ‎for- + ‎skøn (“beautiful”) + ‎-e (infinitive suffix) → ‎forskønne (“beautify”)

   ‎for- + ‎sød (“sweet”) + ‎-e → ‎forsøde (“sweeten”)

   ‎for- + ‎uren (“unclean”) + ‎-e → ‎forurene (“pollute”)

2. Denotes initial or preparatory action; pre-.

   ‎for- + ‎bore (“drill”) → ‎forbore (“drill a hole for screwing”)

   ‎for- + ‎arbejde (“work”) → ‎forarbejde (“preparatory work”)

This element appears in a great number of adapted loanwords from German, Low German and Dutch, to render ver- or vor-, such as in fordærve (“to decay, to rot”). In these cases, it may represent senses that are no longer, or never were, productive in Danish.

• “for-” in Den Danske Ordbog

See for.

• IPA^(key): [for]
• Hyphenation: for

for-

1. Movement to a distance.

   ‎for- + ‎pafi (“to shoot”) → ‎forpafi (“to frighten off”)

   ‎for- + ‎veturi (“to drive”) → ‎forveturi (“to drive away”)

2. Disappearance or annihilation.

   ‎for- + ‎akrigi (“to sharpen”) → ‎forakrigi (“to file down”)

   ‎for- + ‎leki (“to lick”) → ‎forleki (“to lick off”)

• four-, fre-

Inherited from Middle French [Term?], from Old French for-, partially from Late Latin forīs, taken as an adaptation of the adverb forīs (“outdoors, outside”) and used to calque Frankish words prefixed by *fur- (“for-”) (compare Late Latin foris faciō (“to do wrong”) = Old High German firwirken (“to do wrong”), forisfactus (“evil deed”) = Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌷𐍄𐍃 (frawaurhts, “evil deed”), foris coⁿsilio (“to mislead”) = Old High German firleitan (“to mislead”), etc.), and partially continuing from Proto-Germanic *fur-, *fer-, *fra- (“away, from, off”), from Proto-Indo-European *pro-, *per-, *pr-. See for-. Related to French fors (“except”), French hors (“outside”).

• IPA^(key): /fɔʁ/

for-

1. (nonproductive) prefix used to express error, exclusion, or inadequacy

From Old Norse for-, from Proto-Germanic *fra-.

for-

1. previous, before, first, pre-

   ‎for- + ‎síða (“page”) → ‎forsíða (“front page”)

2. (emphatic) extremely
3. negative meaning

• (before): fyrir-

• ur-

From Proto-Celtic *uɸor-.

for-

1. over, superior, super-
2. outer, external
3. great, extreme

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977), “for-”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN

• far-, fer-, vor-

From Old English for-, from Proto-West Germanic *fra-, from Proto-Germanic *fra-, from Proto-Indo-European *pro-.

The Old English prefix was reinforced by Proto-West Germanic *furi-, from Proto-Germanic *furi-; In Middle English, this prefix is further reinforced by Old French for-, from Latin foris.

• IPA^(key): /fɔr-/

for-

1. Forms verbs meaning "far", "out" or with an intensive sense; for-.
2. Forms verbs denoting a failure or error; for-.
3. (no longer productive) Forms nouns with varying sense.

• English: for-
• Scots: for-

• “for-, pref.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
• “for-, pref.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

for-

1. previous, before, first, pre-

   ‎for- + ‎side (“page”) → ‎forside (“front page”)

2. (emphatic) extremely
3. negative meaning

• (before): fore-

• fer-, fær-, fier-

From Proto-West Germanic *fra-.

• IPA^(key): /for/

for-

1. wrongly, away from, astray, abstention, prohibition, perversion, destruction (verbal prefix)

   forwyrcan ― to do wrong, sin

   forstandan ― to defend, protect, stand for

   forweorpan ― to throw away, cast away, reject

   forstelan ― to steal away, deprive

   fordēman ― to condemn

   forlǣdan ― to mislead; seduce

2. used to create intensified adjectives and verbs from other adjectives and verbs, with the sense of completely or fully; compare Modern English use of up

   forblāwan ― to blow up, inflate

   forbrecan ― to break up, break into pieces

   forstoppian ― to stop up, block, occlude

   forworen ― decayed, decrepit

3. very

   forlȳtel ― very little

• This prefix was almost always unstressed, in both nouns and verbs.

• Middle English: for-, far-, fer-, vor-
  • English: for-
  • Scots: for-

From Proto-Celtic *uɸor-. Prefix form of for.

for-

1. over-

for-

1. Alternative form of far-