sub-

See also: sub, sub., and ␚

English

Etymology

From Latin sub (“under”). Doublet of hypo-.

Pronunciation

• enPR: sŭb, IPA^(key): /sʌb/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

Prefix

sub-

1. under, beneath

   subterranean

   submarine

2. subsidiary, secondary

   subplot

3. almost, nearly

   subconical

   subequatorial

Usage notes

In Latin, the following sound changes affected "sub-" and cause English borrowings from Latin which contain this prefix to have different forms. Words formed in English using the prefix "sub-" do not exhibit these sound changes. (Combination with 's' involved elision and the other changes involved assimilation.)

• sub + c = suc- (hence succession, from Latin successiō; but e.g. subculture formed in English from sub- + culture)
• sub + p = sup- (support, but subpage)
• sub + c, p or t = sus- (susceptible, suspend, sustain, but subtitle)
• sub + g = sug- (suggestion, but subgroup)
• sub + r = sur- (surrogate, but subroutine)
• sub + f = suf- (suffer, but subfield)
• sub + s(p) = su- (suspect, suspire but subset, subspecies)

Synonyms

• (under): under-, hypo-, infra-
• (almost): pene-, quasi-

Antonyms

• super-

Derived terms

English terms prefixed with sub-

Translations

under, beneath

• Armenian: ենթա- (entʻa-), ստոր- (stor-)
• Breton: is- (br)
• Catalan: sub- (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 亞 / 亚 (zh) (yà), 子 (zh) (zǐ)

• Czech: sub- (cs), pod-
• Dutch: sub- (nl), onder-
• Finnish: ala- (fi), ali- (fi)
• French: sous- (fr), sub- (fr)
• Galician: sub- (gl)
• German: unter- (de), sub- (de)
• Greek: υπο- (el) (ypo-)
• Hebrew: תַּת־ (he) (tat-)
• Hungarian: szub-
• Ido: sub-
• Italian: sotto- (it), sub- (it)
• Malay: sub- (ms)
• Moroccan Amazigh: ⴰⴷⵓ- m (adu-), ⵜⴰⴷⵓ- f (tadu-), ⵉⴷⵓ- m pl (idu-), ⵜⵉⴷⵓ- (tidu-)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: under-

  Nynorsk: under-

• Old English: under-
• Persian: زیرـ (zir-)
• Portuguese: sub- (pt), so- (pt)
• Russian: под- (ru) (pod-), суб- (ru) (sub-)
• Scottish Gaelic: fo-, frith-
• Spanish: sub- (es)
• Swedish: under- (sv)
• Welsh: is-

subsidiary, secondary

• Breton: eil- (br), bes- (br)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 副 (zh) (fù)

• Dutch: deel-
• Esperanto: sub-
• Finnish: ala- (fi), ali- (fi)
• Galician: sub- (gl)
• Greek: υπο- (el) (ypo-), παρα- (el) (para-)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: under-

  Nynorsk: under-

• Old English: under-
• Persian: زیرـ (zir-)
• Portuguese: sub- (pt)
• Spanish: sub- (es)
• Welsh: is-

almost, nearly

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 類 / 类 (zh) (lèi), 近 (zh) (jìn)

• Finnish: ala- (fi), ali- (fi)
• Japanese: 亜 (ja) (a)
• Welsh: is-

Further reading

• “sub-”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “sub-”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.

Anagrams

• Bus., SBU, UBS, USB, bus, bus.

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin sub.

Prefix

sub-

1. sub-

Derived terms

Catalan terms prefixed with sub-

Further reading

• “sub-” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “sub-”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “sub-” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “sub-” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [sub ]

Prefix

sub-

1. sub-

   Synonym: pod-

   ‎sub- + ‎optimální → ‎suboptimální

Derived terms

Czech terms prefixed with sub-

Further reading

• “sub-”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• sub- in Slovník afixů užívaných v češtině, 2017

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Prefix

sub-

1. sub-

Derived terms

Dutch terms prefixed with sub-

French

Etymology

From Latin sub-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /syb/, /syp/

Prefix

sub-

1. sub-

Derived terms

French terms prefixed with sub-

Galician

Etymology

From Latin sub.

Prefix

sub-

1. sub-

Derived terms

From

Galician terms prefixed with sub-

.

Further reading

• “sub-”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2024

German

Etymology

Ultimately from Latin sub (“under”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [zʊp]

• Audio:

  (file)

Prefix

sub-

1. sub-

Derived terms

German terms prefixed with sub-

Italian

Alternative forms

• sud- (before a letter "d")
• sum- (before a letter "m")

Etymology

From Latin sub-.

Prefix

sub-

1. sub-

Derived terms

Italian terms prefixed with sub-

Latin

Alternative forms

• suc- (before c)
• suf- (before f)
• sug- (before g)
• sum- (before m)
• sup- (before p)
• sur- (before r)
• su- (before sp)
• sus- (sometimes before c or t)

Etymology

From sub (“under, beneath, below”).

Prefix

sub-

1. under, sub-
   1. Attached to verbs, may denote the position or direction of an action

      ‎sub- (“under, below”) + ‎scrībō (“write”) → ‎subscrībō (“to write underneath, to write below”)

   2. In compounds, may stand for sub in a prepositional phrase

      ‎sub- (“under”) + ‎terra (“earth”) + ‎-āneus (adjective-forming suffix) → ‎subterrāneus (“subterranean, underground”)

      ‎sub- (“under”) + ‎lūna (“moon”) + ‎-āris (adjective-forming suffix) → ‎sublūnāris (“sublunar, sublunary”)

   3. Attached to adjectives, creates new adjectives of lesser intensity, having a sense like "somewhat", "slightly", "rather", "-ish"

      ‎sub- (“somewhat”) + ‎amārus (“bitter”) → ‎subamārus (“somewhat bitter, bitterish”)

Derived terms

Latin terms prefixed with sub-

Polish

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin sub-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sub/
• Rhymes: -ub
• Syllabification: [please specify syllabification manually]

Prefix

sub-

1. sub- (under, beneath)

   Synonym: pod-

2. sub- (subsidiary, secondary)

   Synonym: pod-

3. sub- (almost, nearly)

   Synonym: pod-

Derived terms

Polish terms prefixed with sub-

Further reading

• sub- in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Etymology

From Latin sub-. Doublet of so-.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈsub(i)/
• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈsub(ɨ)/

Prefix

sub-

1. sub- (under, beneath)

   Synonym: so-

2. sub- (subsidiary, secondary)

Derived terms

Portuguese terms prefixed with sub-

Romanian

Etymology

See sub, from Latin sub.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sub/

Prefix

sub-

1. sub-

Derived terms

Romanian terms prefixed with sub-

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin sub-.

Prefix

sub-

1. sub-

   Synonym: so-

Derived terms

Spanish terms prefixed with sub-

Further reading

• “sub-”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10