An alpha privative or, rarely, privative a (from Latin ', from Ancient Greek ) is the prefix ''a-'' or ''an-'' (before vowels) that is used in Indo-European languages such as Sanskrit and Greek and in words borrowed therefrom to express negation or absence, for example the English words of greek origin ''

atypical ''Atypical'' is an American comedy-drama television series created by Robia Rashid for Netflix. It focuses on the life of 18-year-old Sam Gardner (Keir Gilchrist), who is on the autism spectrum. The first season was released on August 11, 2017, ...

'', ''

anesthetic An anesthetic (American English) or anaesthetic (British English; see spelling differences) is a drug used to induce anesthesia ⁠— ⁠in other words, to result in a temporary loss of sensation or awareness. They may be divided into two ...

'', and ''

analgesic An analgesic drug, also called simply an analgesic (American English), analgaesic (British English), pain reliever, or painkiller, is any member of the group of drugs used to achieve relief from pain (that is, analgesia or pain management). It i ...

''. It is derived from a Proto-Indo-European syllabic nasal *', the zero

ablaut In linguistics, the Indo-European ablaut (, from German '' Ablaut'' ) is a system of apophony (regular vowel variations) in the Proto-Indo-European language (PIE). An example of ablaut in English is the strong verb ''sing, sang, sung'' and i ...

grade of the negation *', i.e. /n/ used as a vowel. For this reason, it usually appears as ' before vowels (e.g. '' an-alphabetism'', '' an-esthesia'', '' an-archy''). It shares the same root with the Greek prefix ' or ', in Greek or , that is also privative (e.g. '). It is not to be confused with, among other things, an alpha copulative (e.g. ') or the prepositional

component Circuit Component may refer to: •Are devices that perform functions when they are connected in a circuit. In engineering, science, and technology Generic systems * System components, an entity with discrete structure, such as an assem ...

' (i.e. the preposition ' with ecthlipsis or elision of its final vowel before a following vowel; e.g. ').

Cognates

Sanskrit

The same prefix appears in Sanskrit, also as अ- before consonants; and अन्- before vowels.

Latin

In Latin, the cognate prefix is '. The prepositional prefix ' is unrelated.

Germanic languages

In English and other

West Germanic languages The West Germanic languages constitute the largest of the three branches of the Germanic family of languages (the others being the North Germanic and the extinct East Germanic languages). The West Germanic branch is classically subdivided into t ...

, the cognate is ''un-'' (or ''on-''). In North Germanic languages, the -''n''- has disappeared and Old Norse has ' (e.g. ),

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

and Norwegian have ', whereas Swedish uses ' (pronounced , and Icelandic and Faroese use the related '.

Homonym

The prefix ' (also - ' from

psilosis Psilosis () is the sound change in which Greek lost the consonant sound /h/ during antiquity. The term comes from the Greek ''psílōsis'' ("smoothing, thinning out") and is related to the name of the smooth breathing (ψιλή ''psilḗ''), ...

copulative a The copulative ''a'' (also ''a'' copulativum, ''a'' athroistikon) is the prefix ''ha-'' or ''a-'' expressing unity in Ancient Greek, derived from Proto-Indo-European *''sm̥-'', cognate to English ''same'' (see also Symbel).. An example is ''a-de ...

, is nearly homonymous with privative ', but originates from Proto-Indo-European *.

References