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Anti- and Ante-

© Copyright 2001, Jim Loy

Some people apparently confuse the prefixes "anti-" and "ante-." "Anti-" means "against," or "opposite," as in antibacterial, antiballistic missile (it is still ballistic, it is just an antimissile), Antichrist (opposite), antibody, antifreeze, antigravity (opposite), anti-icer, antihistimine, antiparticle (opposite), antipode (point on the opposite side of the earth), antisocial (opposite), antitoxin, antitrust, etc. "Ante-" means "before," as in antecedent, antechamber, anterior, antedeluvian, etc. "Ant-" is a variation of "anti" occurring before a vowel sound, as in antacid, Antarctica, etc. All this is fairly straighforward; but the major source of confusion may come from mispronouncing "anti-" as "ante-." This pronunciation has become an acceptable standard. I do find myself pronouncing any of the above "anti-" words in that way. But I try to avoid it.

A visitor to this page mentioned "antipasto," which seems to be an exception to the above comments. Here is my reply: It would seem that "anti" is Italian for the Latin "ante," and "antipasto" is an Italian word.


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