Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

des-

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.25 in modern English

Syllables
des-
IPA
4
Scrabble Score
3
Letters
2
Syllables
3
Unique Chars

Meaning

prefix

Obsolete form of dis- (“reversal of sense of succeeding word”).

Obsolete

prefix

A removal of a group from a molecule.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ ▲ Proto-Indo-European *trísinflu. Proto-Indo-European *d(w)is- Proto-Italic *dis- Latin dis- Old French des-bor. ▲ Latin dis-bor. Middle English des- English des- From Middle English des-, dis-, from Old French des-, from Latin dis-.

Origin

Word Breakdown

Usage

Questions

What does des- mean?
Obsolete form of dis- (“reversal of sense of succeeding word”).
Where does des- come from?
It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce des-

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “des-”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “des-”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “des-” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.