Dictionary

preformant en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /pɹiːˈfɔːm(ə)nt/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /pɹiˈfɔɹm(ə)nt/ (General-American)

Etymology

From pre- (prefix meaning ‘before; physically in front of’) + Latin fōrmāns (“fashioning, forming, shaping”) + -ant (suffix forming agent nouns from verbs), modelled after prefix. Fōrmāns is the present participle of fōrmō (“to fashion, form, format, shape”), from fōrma (“appearance, figure, form, shape; beauty; design, outline, plan; model, mould, pattern, stamp; (figuratively) kind, manner, sort”) (further etymology uncertain) + -ō (suffix forming first-conjugation verbs).

Meanings

1. (archaic, rare) Chiefly in Semitic languages: Synonym of preformative (“a formative letter, syllable, etc., at the beginning of a word”).
   • Verbs are declined through the persons by preformants and terminations, according to the following table, in which the blanks represent the radicals of a perfect verb. 1822, William Harris, “Verbs”, in Elements of the Chaldee Language, Intended as a Supplement to the Hebrew Grammars, and as a General Introduction to the Aramean Dialects, London: […] William Baynes and Son, […], →OCLC, page 14:

Forms