postfix

English

Etymology

post- +‎ fix

Pronunciation
  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈpəʊst.fɪks/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈpoʊst.fɪks/

Verb

postfix (third-person singular simple present postfixes, present participle postfixing, simple past and past participle postfixed)

  1. (transitive) To suffix.
    • 1762, John Parkhurst, An Hebrew and English Lexicon: Without Points:
      Verbs with י for the first radical, often drop it in the future, imperative, and infinitive of Kal, to which last they postfix ת‎ (לקח‎ to take, follows this form), and in Niph. and Hiph. they change י into ו.
  2. (biology) To subject a sample to postfixation

Noun

postfix (plural postfixes)

  1. (chiefly computing) Suffix.
    • 1843, George Moody, The English journal of education‎, volume 1, page 69:
      Two, or three at the very most, of the prefixes or postfixes are quite sufficient for one day's lesson.
    • 2006, Patrick Blackburn · Johan Bos · Kristina Striegnitz, Learn Prolog Now!, §9.4
      An example of a postfix operator is the ++ notation used in the C programming language to increment the value of a variable.
  2. (linguistics, Czech) a suffix that goes after the ending

Usage notes

Postfix is often used in programming or computing, while in the modern era suffix is used elsewhere, especially in linguistics.

Derived terms

See also
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