Definitions

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • A prefix signifying in or into, used in many English words, chiefly those borrowed from the French. Some English words are written indifferently with en-or in-. For ease of pronunciation it is commonly changed to em-before p, b, and m, as in employ, embody, emmew. It is sometimes used to give a causal force, as in enable, enfeeble, to cause to be, or to make, able, or feeble; and sometimes merely gives an intensive force, as in enchasten. See in-.
  • A prefix from Gr. � in, meaning in. See In-.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • prefix in, into, on, onto
  • prefix covered
  • prefix caused
  • prefix as an intensifier

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English en- ("en-, in-"). Originally from Old French en- (also an-), from Latin in- ("in, into"); but also from an alteration of Middle English in-, from Old English in- ("in, into"), from Proto-Germanic *in (“in”). Both Latin and Germanic, from Proto-Indo-European *en (“in, into”). Intensive use of Old French en-, an- due to confluence with Old Frankish *an- (intensive prefix), related to Old English on- (intensive prefix). More at in-, on-.

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Examples

  • In future corporate naming, en- is very likely to be avoided as a prefix, and the suffix -on is off.

    The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time William Safire 2004

  • In future corporate naming, en- is very likely to be avoided as a prefix, and the suffix -on is off.

    The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time William Safire 2004

  • He's shown to a satin-draped bedroom and a sumptuous en- suite bathroom with a free-standing oval tub.

    BusinessWeek.com -- Top News 2012

  • Obama and his liberal cohorts like to bemoan the fact that the United States is the only industrialized nation that doesn’t en- sure health care for every single citizen.

    OBAMA ZOMBIES Jason Mattera 2010

  • Nearly every thread of Obama’s career runs directly or indirectly through the Midwest Academy, a fact which has gone almost en- tirely unreported.

    Radical-In-Chief Stanley Kurtz 2010

  • Obama and his liberal cohorts like to bemoan the fact that the United States is the only industrialized nation that doesn’t en- sure health care for every single citizen.

    OBAMA ZOMBIES Jason Mattera 2010

  • Nearly every thread of Obama’s career runs directly or indirectly through the Midwest Academy, a fact which has gone almost en- tirely unreported.

    Radical-In-Chief Stanley Kurtz 2010

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