An alpha privative or, rarely, privative a (from Latin ', from Ancient Greek ) is the

prefix A prefix is an affix which is placed before the Word stem, stem of a word. Adding it to the beginning of one word changes it into another word. For example, when the prefix ''un-'' is added to the word ''happy'', it creates the word ''unhappy'' ...

''a-'' or ''an-'' (before vowels) that is used in Indo-European languages such as Sanskrit and Greek and in words borrowed therefrom to express negation or absence, for example the English words of greek origin '' atypical'', '' anesthetic'', and ''

analgesic An analgesic drug, also called simply an analgesic (American English), analgaesic (British English), pain reliever, or painkiller, is any member of the group of drugs used to achieve relief from pain (that is, analgesia or pain management). It ...

''. It is derived from a Proto-Indo-European syllabic nasal *', the zero ablaut grade of the negation *', i.e. /n/ used as a vowel. For this reason, it usually appears as ' before vowels (e.g. '' an-alphabetism'', '' an-esthesia'', '' an-archy''). It shares the same root with the Greek prefix ' or ', in Greek or , that is also privative (e.g. '). It is not to be confused with, among other things, an alpha copulative (e.g. ') or the prepositional

component Circuit Component may refer to: •Are devices that perform functions when they are connected in a circuit. In engineering, science, and technology Generic systems *System components, an entity with discrete structure, such as an assemb ...

' (i.e. the preposition ' with ecthlipsis or

elision In linguistics, an elision or deletion is the omission of one or more sounds (such as a vowel, a consonant, or a whole syllable) in a word or phrase. However, these terms are also used to refer more narrowly to cases where two words are run toget ...

of its final vowel before a following vowel; e.g. ').

Cognates

Sanskrit

The same prefix appears in Sanskrit, also as अ- before consonants; and अन्- before vowels.

Latin

In Latin, the

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymology, etymological ancestor in a proto-language, common parent language. Because language c ...

prefix is '. The

preposition Prepositions and postpositions, together called adpositions (or broadly, in traditional grammar, simply prepositions), are a class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in'', ''under'', ''towards'', ''before'') or mark various ...

al prefix ' is unrelated.

Germanic languages

In English and other West Germanic languages, the cognate is ''un-'' (or ''on-''). In North Germanic languages, the -''n''- has disappeared and Old Norse has ' (e.g. ),

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

and Norwegian have ', whereas

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

uses ' (pronounced , and Icelandic and Faroese use the related '.

Homonym

The prefix ' (also - ' from psilosis), copulative a, is nearly homonymous with privative ', but originates from Proto-Indo-European *.

References