i-

See also: Appendix:Variations of "i"

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English i-, y-, ȝe-, from Old English ġe-, from Proto-West Germanic *ga-, from Proto-Germanic *ga-, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱó-, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm (“with, near, by, along”). Cognate with Dutch ge-, Low German ge-, je-, e-, German ge-.

Prefix

i-

(obsolete) Used to form past participles of verbs. Alternative spelling of y-

Etymology 2

From Latin ī-, assimilated form of in- used before g-.

Prefix

i-

A form of the prefix in-, used before gn, as in ignoble, ignominy, and ignore.

Synonyms

(not): a-, an-, dys-, il-/im-/in-/ir-, mal-, non-, un-

Etymology 3

Prefix

i-

(Jamaica) Used to transform English words into words used by Rastafarians with a special meaning.

Etymology 4

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

Prefix

i-

Alluding to the Internet.
Coordinate terms: cyber-; e-
Alluding to digital devices and computer programs, especially those that are cutting-edge or fashionable, and those from Apple.
Coordinate term: (alluding to McDonald's) Mc-

‎i- + ‎pod → ‎iPod

‎i- + ‎phone → ‎iPhone

‎i- + ‎gen → ‎iGen
- 1999 November 1, Melissa August, “Ad Infinitum”, in Time, volume 154, page 39:
  I-WHAT?! Seems everyone's ripping off the iMac idea. Take this parody ad for the fruity-colored “iBrator” at sleeplessknights.com.
- 2011, Scotty Smith, Everyday Prayers: 365 Days to a Gospel-Centered Faith, Baker Books, →ISBN, page 178:
  In our “iWorld” of new gadgets and cool widgets, help us to ponder the reality that over half of the population on the earth exists on three of our American dollars, or less, a day.

Derived terms

English terms prefixed with i-

Choctaw

Pronunciation

(first-person, we): IPA^(key): /iː/

Prefix

ī- (before vowels il-, class I first-person plural)

the subject of an active transitive verb
we
the subject of an active intransitive verb
we

Inflection

Choctaw Person Markers


			class I			class II		class III		class N		imperative
			+s	+C	+V	+C/i	+a/o	+C	+V	+C	+V	+C	+V
first-person	singular	initial	-li			sa-	si-	a̱-	am-	ak-		n/a
	singular	medial	-li			sa-	si-	-sa-	-sam-	ak-
	paucal		ī-		il-	pi-		pi̱-	pim-	kī-	kil-
	plural		ī-		il-	hapi-		hapi̱-	hapim-	kī-	kil-
second-person	singular		is-	ish-		chi-		chi̱-	chim-	chik-		∅
second-person	plural		has-	hash-		hachi-		hachi̱-	hachim-	hachik-		ho-	oh-
third-person			∅			∅		i̱-	im-	ik-

Curripaco

Prefix

i-

second person plural agent marker

References

Swintha Danielsen, Tania Granadillo, Agreement in two Arawak languages, in The Typology of Semantic Alignment (edited by Mark Donohue, Søren Wichmann) (2008, →ISBN, page 398

Esperanto

Etymology

The i vowel common to other correlatives, such as ki- and ti-, without the defining consonant.

Pronunciation

Audio (file)

Prefix

i-

Any-, some-. (Indeterminate correlative prefix.)

Derived terms

Esperanto terms prefixed with i-

iu (“some individual, someone, somebody”)
io (“some object, something”)
ia (“some kind of”)
ies (“belonging to some person, someone's”)
iel (“some manner/degree, somehow”)
ie (“some place, somewhere”)
iam (“some time, sometime”)
iom (“some quantity, some of”)
ial (“for some reason”)

Italian

Etymology

Assimilated form of in-, before s- + consonant.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /i/
Hyphenation: i-

Prefix

i-

Alternative form of in-

Japhug

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /i/

Prefix

i-

(Kamnyu) our (plural possessive)

Derived terms

Japhug terms prefixed with i-

Kambera

Pronoun

i-

Alternative form of mi-

Latin

Etymology

Assimilated form of in-, before gn-.

Prefix

i-

Alternative form of in-

Malagasy

Prefix

i-

prefix element of i- -ana

Middle English

Etymology

From Old English ġe-, from Proto-Germanic *ga-.

Prefix

i-

Alternative form of y-

Mohawk

Prefix

i-

translocative, indicating motion away from the speaker
epenthetic vowel added to certain verb forms
Alternative form of ka- (before o- and on-stems)

References

Gunther Michelson (1973) A thousand words of Mohawk, University of Ottawa Press, page 11
Nora Deering, Helga H. Delisle (1976) Mohawk: A teaching grammar (preliminary version), Quebec: Manitou College, pages 105, 173

Northern Ndebele

Etymology 1

From Proto-Bantu *gɪ́-.

Prefix

i- (medial yi-)

they; class 4 subject concord.

Etymology 2

Contracted from earlier ili-, from Proto-Bantu *dɪ́-, plus augment. Originally the pronominal and verbal concord, it displaced the older Bantu noun prefix *ì-. The tone was lowered by analogy with other noun prefixes.

Prefix

i-

Class 5 noun prefix; form of ili- used before stems of more than one syllable.

Etymology 3

From Proto-Bantu *jɪ́-.

Prefix

i- (medial yi-)

he, she, it; class 9 subject concord.

Etymology 4

Prefix

i-

Class 9 noun prefix; form of in- used before stems beginning with l, m or n.

Old English

Etymology 1

From Proto-Germanic *iz.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /iː/

Prefix

Ī-

same, selfsame

Derived terms

Old English terms prefixed with i-

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /i/

Prefix

I-

Alternative form of ġe-

Phuthi

Etymology 1

From Proto-Bantu *gɪ́-.

Prefix

i- (medial yi-)

they; class 4 subject concord.

Etymology 2

From Proto-Bantu *jɪ̀-n-.

Prefix

i-

Class 9 noun prefix.

Etymology 3

From Proto-Bantu *jɪ́-.

Prefix

i- (medial yi-)

he, she, it; class 9 subject concord.

Etymology 4

Prefix

i-

Class 9 noun prefix; form of in- used before stems beginning with l, m or n.

Portuguese

Prefix

i-

Alternative form of in-, used before l, m and n.

Southern Ndebele

Etymology 1

From Proto-Bantu *gɪ́-.

Prefix

i- (medial yi-)

they; class 4 subject concord.

Etymology 2

From Proto-Bantu *jɪ́-.

Prefix

i- (medial yi-)

he, she, it; class 9 subject concord.

Spanish

Prefix

i-

Alternative form of in-, used before l.

Swahili

Other scripts
Ajami	اِيْـ

Etymology

From Proto-Bantu *gɪ́- and Proto-Bantu *jɪ́-.

Prefix

i-

it, they; mi class_(IV)/n class_(IX) subject concord
- 18th century, Abdallah bin Ali bin Nasir, Al-Inkishafi‎, translation from R. Allen (1946) “Inkishafi—a translation from the Swahili”, in African Studies, volume 5, number 4, →DOI, pages 243–249, stanza 12:
  هُيُوِ دُنِيَ اِيْنَ غُرُرِ ، دِيَ زَتَتَسِ هُزَدَمَيِْ،
  Huyui dunia ina ghururi? ndia za-tatasi huzandamaye?
  This world is deceitful, why follow its ways?
verb-initial form of -i- (“it, them; mi class_(IV)/n class_(IX) object concord”)

Swazi

Etymology 1

From Proto-Bantu *gɪ́-.

Prefix

i- (medial yi-)

they; class 4 subject concord.

Etymology 2

From Proto-Bantu *jɪ́-.

Prefix

i- (medial yi-)

he, she, it; class 9 subject concord.

Tagalog

Etymology

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *i-.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ʔi/,

Prefix

i- (Baybayin spelling ᜁ)

benefactive trigger: to perform the action of the verb for someone or something (expresses various kinds of actions)
‎i- + ‎bili (“buy”) → ‎ibili (“to buy something for someone”)

Ibili mo ako ng saging.
Buy me bananas.
object trigger: to do something to a person or a thing (expresses various kinds of actions)
‎i- + ‎tapon (“throw”) → ‎itapon (“to throw”)

Itapon mo iyan sa basurahan.
Throw that to the garbage.
instrumental trigger: to use something for a certain purpose (expresses various kinds of actions)
‎i- + ‎sulat (“write”) → ‎isulat (“to use something for writing”)

Isulat mo ng listahan ang lapis.
Use the pencil to write a list.

Derived terms

Tagalog terms prefixed with i-

Taos

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ʔi/

Prefix

i-

(transitive) First person plural subject + third person singular object.
(transitive) Second person singular subject + third person inverse number object.
(transitive) Third person singular subject + third person inverse number object.
(transitive) Third person plural subject + third person singular object.
(formative) Third person plural subject.

Ternate

Pronoun

i- (Jawi إ-)

(non-human) third-person singular clitic, it
(human) third-person plural clitic, they
(masculine) third-person singular possessive prefix, his
Synonym: ai-

References

Frederik Sigismund Alexander de Clercq (1890) Bijdragen tot de kennis der Residentie Ternate, E.J. Brill
Rika Hayami-Allen (2001) A descriptive study of the language of Ternate, the northern Moluccas, Indonesia, University of Pittsburgh

Tocharian A

Etymology

From Proto-Tocharian *jä-, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ey- (“to move”). Compare Tocharian B i-.

Verb

i-

to go

Tocharian B

Etymology

From Proto-Tocharian *jä-, whence also Tocharian A i-, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ey- (“to move”). Cognate with Latin eō and Polish iść, both of the same meaning. The preterite form of this term, mäs-, is from Proto-Indo-European *mew- (“to move”), and as such the term is suppletive in conjugation.

Verb

i-

to go

Derived terms

West Makian

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /i/

Pronoun

i-

third-person singular clitic, he, she, it
ico ― he sees

pala ne ilamo ― this house is large

Xhosa

Etymology 1

From Proto-Bantu *gɪ́-.

Prefix

i- (medial yi-)

they; class 4 subject concord.

Etymology 2

Prefix

i-

Class 5 noun prefix; form of ili- used before stems of more than one syllable.

Etymology 3

From Proto-Bantu *jɪ́-.

Prefix

i- (medial yi-)

he, she, it; class 9 subject concord.

Ye'kwana

Pronunciation

IPA^(key):

Prefix

i-

(Caura River dialect) Allomorph of y- (third-person prefix) used for stems that begin with two consonants.
(Cunucunuma River dialect) Allomorph of d- (third-person prefix) used for non-deictic stems that begin with a consonant.
Forms part of the circumfix allomorphs of various adverbializers, i- -jai, i- -'da, and i- -emje, used for stems that begin with two consonants.

Inflection

Ye'kwana personal markers

	pronoun	noun possessor/ series II verb argument		postposition object		series I verb argument
	pronoun	noun possessor/ series II verb argument		postposition object		transitive patient	intransitive patient-like		intransitive agent-like	transitive agent
first person	ewü	y-, ∅-, ü-, u-¹						w-, wi-
first person dual inclusive	küwü	k-, kü-, ku-, ki-								k-, kii-, ki-¹
second person	amödö	ö-, öy-/öd-, o-, oy-/od-, a-, ay-/ad-							m-, mi-
first person dual exclusive	nña	y-/d-, ch-, ∅-, i-¹			chö-	∅-	n-, ni-
third person	tüwü	y-/d-, ch-, ∅-, i-¹			chö-	n-, ni-	n-, ni-
distant past third person	tüwü	—				kün-, kun-, kin-, ken-, küm-, kum-, kim-, kini-
coreferential/reflexive	—	t-, tü-, tu-, ti-, te-				—
reciprocal	—	—	öö-
With following vowel lengthened if in an unreduced open syllable.

	series I verb argument: transitive agent and transitive patient
first person > second person	mön-, man-, mon-, möm-, möni-
first person dual exclusive > second person	mön-, man-, mon-, möm-, möni-
second person > first person	k-, kü-, ku-, ki-
second person > first person dual exclusive	k-, kü-, ku-, ki-
third person > any person X …or… any person X > third person	see person X in the chart above

Yoruba

Etymology 1

Alternative forms

ù- in Southeast Yorùbá and some Central Yorùbá dialects such as Èkìtì and Ìjẹ̀ṣà.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ì/

Prefix

ì-

abstract or instrument nominalizing prefix

Usage notes

Forms both abstract and concrete nouns:

ì + ṣe "to do" → ìṣe "action"
ì + gbálẹ̀ "to sweep floor" → ìgbálẹ̀ "broom"

Derived terms

Yoruba terms prefixed with i- (nominalizing prefix)

Etymology 2

Alternative forms

u- in Southeast Yorùbá and some Central Yorùbá dialects such as Èkìtì and Ìjẹ̀ṣà.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ī/

Prefix

i-

non-gerundive nominalizing prefix

Derived terms

Yoruba terms prefixed with i-

Zulu

Etymology 1

From Proto-Bantu *gɪ́-.

Prefix

í- (medial yí-)

they; class 4 subject concord.

Etymology 2

Contracted from earlier íli-, from Proto-Bantu *dɪ́-, plus augment. Originally the pronominal and verbal concord, it displaced the older Bantu noun prefix *ì-. The tone was lowered by analogy with other noun prefixes.

Prefix

î-

Class 5 noun prefix.

Etymology 3

Prefix

í-

Class 9 noun prefix; form of in- used before stems beginning with l, m or n.

Etymology 4

From Proto-Bantu *jɪ́-.

Prefix

í- (medial yí-)

he, she, it; class 9 subject concord.

References

C. M. Doke, B. W. Vilakazi (1972) “i-”, in Zulu-English Dictionary, →ISBN: “i-”

Japhug (Kamnyu) personal pronouns and possessive prefixes
Number	Person	Possessive prefixes	Free pronoun	Genitive
Singular	1st	a-	aʑo, aj	aʑɯɣ
	2nd	nɤ-	nɤʑo, nɤj	nɤʑɯɣ
	3rd	ɯ-	ɯʑo	ɯʑɤɣ
Dual	1st	tɕi-	tɕiʑo	tɕiʑɤɣ
	2nd	ndʑi-	ndʑiʑo	ndʑiʑɤɣ
	3rd	ndʑi-	ʑɤni	ʑɤniɣɯ
Plural	1st	i-	iʑo, iʑora, iʑɤra	iʑɤɣ, iʑɤra ɣɯ
	2nd	nɯ-	nɯʑo, nɯʑora, nɯʑɤra	nɯʑɤɣ, nɯʑɤra ɣɯ
	3rd	nɯ-	ʑara	ʑaraɣ, ʑara ɣɯ
Generic		tɯ-	tɯʑo

	Nominative	Genitive	Accusative	Dative
1sg	ku-	-nggu	-ka	-ngga
2sg	mu- (u-)	-mu	-kau	-nggau
3sg	na-	-na	-ya	-nya
1pl.incl	ta-	-nda	-ta	-nda
1pl.excl	ma-	-ma	-kama	-nggama
2pl	mi- (i-)	-mi	-kami (-kai)	-nggami (-nggai)
3pl	da-	-da	-ha	-nja

	independent		subject proclitic	possessive
	Informal	Formal
1st person singular	ngori	fangare^m, fajaru^f	to	ri
2nd person singular	ngana	ngoni, jou ngoni	no	ni
3rd person singular	una^m, mina^f		o^m, mo^f, i^nh	i^m, mi^f, ma^nh
1st person plural inclusive	ngone		fo	na, nga
1st person plural exclusive	ngomi	fangare ngomi^m, fajaru ngomi^f, fara ngomi¹	mi	mi, mia
2nd person plural	ngoni		ni	na, nia
3rd person plural	ana^h, ena^nh		i^{h, nh}, yo^{h, †}, ya^{nh, †}	na^h, nga^h, ma^nh