Definitions

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

  • See y-.

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

  • prefix A form of the prefix in-, used before gn, as in ignoble, ignominy, and ignore.
  • prefix obsolete Used to form past participles of verbs. Alternative spelling of y-.
  • prefix Alluding to cutting-edge or fashionable digital devices and computer programs, especially those from Apple.
  • prefix Jamaica Used to transform English words into words used by Rastafarians with a special meaning.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin in- ("not").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Popularized in the name of the iMac line of computers (1998).

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Examples

  • Mitsubishi Motors Corp. delivered about 100 of its i- MiEV minicar since it started taking orders in October 2009.

    BusinessWeek.com -- Top News 2011

  • By the time the i- prefix was fleshed out, Apple had transformed itself from a culty computer maker to a major religion.

    NPR Topics: News 2011

  • According to Apple's ad agency, i- was meant to stand for "Internet," with overtones of "individual" and probably the first-person pronoun as well.

    NPR Topics: News 2011

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