Etymograph

English

af-

Af- comes from Latin ad ‘to, towards’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd ‘near, at’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂éd1‘near, at’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*ad1‘toward, to, on, up to, for’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEad2‘to, towards’
  4. Englishtodayaf-3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin ad
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin ad-
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English af-

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂édWiktionary, Latin ad‘near, at’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*adWiktionary, Latin ad‘toward, to, on, up to, for’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEadWiktionary, Latin ad-‘to, towards’
  4. Englishtodayaf-Wiktionary, English af-

The story

Assimilated form of ad- before f.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd ‘near, at’

at, 16 more

through Proto-Italic *ad ‘toward, to, on, up to, for’

appointee, 16 more

through Latin ad ‘to, towards’

agree, ad, aim, appoint, await, attire, amortization, adage, accolade, adulation, alliteration, adroit, affix, apportion, adobo, affine, apres, 20 more

Today it means

prefix —

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “af-”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin ad, Latin ad-. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd / af-

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