Akademik

an-

1.
prefix not, without (anarchy) ({{}}cf. A-(1)).
Etymology: Gk an-
2.
assim. form of AD- before n.

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— see a- II

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an-¹

a prefix occurring before stems beginning with a vowel or h in loanwords from Greek, where it means "not," "without," "lacking" (anarchy; anecdote); used in the formation of compound words: anelectric. Also, before a consonant, a-.

[ < Gk. See A-⁶, IN-³, UN-¹]

an-²

var. of ad- before n: announce.

an-³

var. of ana- before a vowel: anion.

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an¹ «an; unstressed uhn», adjective or indefinite article.

1. a) any: »Is there an apple for me? An oak has acorns. Please give me an answer.
b) one like; another (before proper names or nouns used as the type of a class): »an Elijah in modern dress. She is an angel among women.

2. one: »My mother needs an ounce of butter.

3. each; every: »John earns fifty cents an hour.

4. a) the same: »two desks to an office.
b) a particular: »It was too awful an accident to describe.
c) one kind of: »Painting is an art.
d) a certain; some: »an occasion for concern, an enormous number of pigeons.

5. a single: »not an ounce of hope.

╂[Middle English an (unstressed form before vowels) < Old English ān one]

Usage In modern Standard English the form of the indefinite article is a before a word beginning with a consonant sound and an before a word beginning with a vowel sound: a horse, a man, a union, but an answer, an hour. Note that one's choice is determined by the initial sound, not by the spelling. Usage varies before words beginning with h in an unstressed syllable, like historical or hotel, where, because the h is commonly silent or weakly articulated, many use an. In Great Britain an is occasionally used before words like united and euphonious, which begin with the sound of «y». See a² for another usage note. (Cf. ↑a)

an², an' «an; unstressed uhn», conjunction.

1. Dialect or Informal. and.

2. Archaic. if.

╂[reduction of and]

an-¹,

prefix.

1. not: »Anastigmatic = not astigmatic.

2. without: »Anhydrous = without water.
Also, a- (before consonant sounds except h).

╂[< Greek an- not, without]

an-²,

prefix. the form of ad- (Cf. ↑ad-) before n, as in annex.

an-³,

prefix. the form of ana- (Cf. ↑ana-) before vowels, as in anode.

-an,

suffix used to form adjectives and nouns, especially from proper nouns.

1. of or having to do with _____: »Mohammedan = of or having to do with Mohammed.

2. of or having to do with _____ or its people: »Asian = of or having to do with Asia or its people.

3. a native or inhabitant of _____: »American = a native or inhabitant of America.

4. person who knows much about or is skilled in _____: »Historian = a person who knows much about history. Magician = a person skilled in magic.
Also, -ian, -ean.

╂[< Latin -ānus]

an.,

in the year (Latin, anno).

An (no period),

actinon (isotope of radon).

AN (no periods), AN., or A.N.,

Anglo-Norman.

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I
prefix variant spelling of a- I before a vowel (as in anemia, anechoic)

Origin:

from Greek
II
prefix variant spelling of ad- assimilated before n (as in annihilate, annotate)
III
prefix variant spelling of ana- shortened before a vowel (as in aneurysm)

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↑a- ————————
— see ↑a-, 2

* * *
an-, prefix
from various sources.

1. OE. and ME. an-, = an prep. (see prec.) In OE. the orig. an- remained only under the stress, i.e. in ns.; otherwise, it was, like the separate preposition, rounded to on-; thus ˈangin beginning, onˈginnan to begin, onˈbuacutan about. An example of the former remains in anvil. In ME. on- was regularly levelled to ă- (a- prefix 2); before a vowel (rarely bef. cons.) ăn-, as in anelen, aninne, anoven, anunder, anuppe, anhigh, anblow, anlike. Most of these are now obs.; a few remain with an- conformed to the prep. on, as on high; levelled to a- as alike; or assimilated to Fr. en-, as (?) enamel. Only where the individuality of the prefix has been lost, does an- remain, in anon, anent, an(n)eal (OE. on-ǽlan, ME. an-ele(n).

2. ME. an-, reduced f. OE. and- ‘against, towards, in return for’: see and-.

3. ME. an-:—OE. án one, retained in early ME., and subseq. in north. dial., in words now written with on-, one-, or obs.; as ankenned, anfald, anhad, anlepy, anly (= only), anmod, anred, anwill.

4. ME. an-, = Anglo-Norm. an-, OFr. en-:—L. in-, = ‘in, into,’ as anoint (L. inunctum), annoy; anhaunse, anjoin, anvenime, where subsequently spelt en-; andetted, subseq. endetted, indebted; anpayre, subseq. apayre, also enpayre, empayre, impair.

5. ME. an-, for earlier a- = OE. a- (a- prefix 1), or OFr. a-:—L. ab-, ad-, ex-, ob-, which, being phonetically identified with No. 1 above, was like it expanded to an- bef. vowels, and occas. bef. consonants: as in a(n)chesoun = oc-casion, a(n)ferm af-firm, a(n)ired, a(n)oure ad-ore, a(n)orn ad-orn, a(n)tempered at-tempered; a(n)s-aumple ex-ample. Such of these as survived were either refashioned after L., as adorn, or changed an- to en-, in-, as inorn; example, ensample, shows both processes.

6. ME. an-, a later spelling of earlier a-, = OFr. a-:—L. an- assimilated form of ad- ‘to,’ when followed by n-, after L. forms or supposed analogies, as in a(n)nounce. This doubling of the n began in 14th c. Fr. and extended to Eng. in 15th c. In 16th c. it was ignorantly extended even to words containing an- from other sources, from which it has generally been again ejected exc. in anneal, annoy, See ad-.

7. an-, repr. L. an- = ad- before n-, in words derived from L. directly, or indirectly through later Fr., and in words formed on the analogy of them, as an-nex, an-nul, an-nunciation.

8. an-, repr. L. an- before certain consonants, for am-, amb-, ambi-, ‘on both sides, about.’ Through OFr. in an-(h)ele; directly from L. in an-cipitous, an-fractuous.

9. an-, repr. Gr. ἀν- for ἀνά ‘up, upwards, back, etc.’ (see ana-) bef. vowel, as in anagoge, Gr. ἀναγωγή; also in anchor n.², anchoret.

10. an-, repr. Gr. ἀν- privative, ‘not, without, wanting’ (reduced before consonants to ἀ-: see a- prefix 14), cognate w. Skr. an-, L. in-, Eng. un-, ‘not, non-.’ In words already formed in Greek as an-archy, an-arthrous; whence common in modern scientific words as an-allagmatic, an-alphabetic, an-antherous, an-isomerous.

Useful english dictionary. 2012.