il-

See also: Appendix:Variations of "il"

English

Etymology

From Latin il-, assimilated form of in- before l-.

Prefix

il-

1. not; a form of the prefix in-, used before l

Synonyms

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

Anagrams

• -li-, Li, li

Catalan

Prefix

il-

1. Form used before a root beginning with the letter l of in-

Usage notes

• Normally this prefix will combine with the root to make a word that uses the ela geminada. For example, il- and legal combine to form il·legal. but for some words, the use of the ela palatal will provide an alternative form or the preferred form. Thus il- and legible can combine to form either illegible or il·legible, while il- and letrat (“literate”) combine only as illetrat (“illiterate”) in Standard Catalan, although il·letrat is a common, but still illiterate, misspelling.

Derived terms

Catalan terms prefixed with il-

Choctaw

Prefix

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

1. the subject of an active transitive verb

   we

2. the subject of an intransitive active 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
		medial						-sa-	-sam-
	paucal		ī-		il-	pi-		pi̱-	pim-	kī-	kil-
	plural					hapi-		hapi̱-	hapim-
second-person	singular		is-	ish-		chi-		chi̱-	chim-	chik-		∅
	plural		has-	hash-		hachi-		hachi̱-	hachim-	hachik-		ho-	oh-
third-person			∅			∅		i̱-	im-	ik-

French

Etymology

From Latin in.

Prefix

il-

1. Variant of in- used before l

Derived terms

French terms prefixed with il-

Irish

Etymology 1

From il (“much, many”), from Old Irish il, from Proto-Indo-European *pelh₁- (compare Ancient Greek πολύς (polús, “much”)).

Prefix

il- (Lenites except with d, s, t)

1. multiple, poly-, multi-
2. miscellaneous

   Synonyms: ilghnéitheach, ilchineálach, éagsúil

3. sundry
4. composite

Derived terms

Irish terms prefixed with il-

• il-eitneach (“multi-ethnic”)
• il-leabhrach (“voluminous”)
• il-leannánachas (“promiscuity”)
• il-loscadh (“holocaust”)
• il-mhíchumas (“multiple disability”)

 

Related terms

• pola-

Etymology 2

Prefix

il-

1. Alternative form of oll- (“great, gross”)

Mutation

Mutated forms of il-

radical	eclipsis	with h-prothesis	with t-prothesis
il-	n-il-	hil-	t-il-

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “il-”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959) “il-”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
• “il-”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013-2024

Italian

Etymology

Assimilated form of in-, before l-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /il/
• Hyphenation: il-

Prefix

il-

1. Alternative form of in-

Anagrams

• -li, li, lì

Latin

Etymology

Assimilated form of in-, before l-.

Prefix

il-

1. Alternative form of in-

Maltese

Alternative forms

• l-, iċ-, id-, in-, ir-, is-, it-, ix-, iz-, iż-, ċ-, d-, n-, r-, s-, t-, x-, z-, ż- (see usage notes)

Etymology

From Arabic اَل (al-).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪl/

Article

il-

1. the

Usage notes

• The article (in all forms) connects to the following word with a hyphen:

  ‎il- + ‎mara → ‎il-mara (“the woman”) ; ‎il- + ‎futur → ‎il-futur (“the future”).

• Before an initial vowel, including before the vocalic letters għ and h, the i of the article is always dropped. This does not happen before q [ʔ], however:

  ‎il- + ‎iben → ‎l-iben (“the son”) ; ‎il- + ‎għasfur → ‎l-għasfur (“the bird”) ; but: ‎il- + ‎qalb → ‎il-qalb (“the heart”).

• Before an initial consonant cluster beginning with a nasal or liquid, i.e. the letters l, m, n, r + another consonant, an i is prefixed to the word and the article thus becomes l-:

  ‎il- + ‎rmied → ‎l-irmied (“the ashes”) ; ‎il- + ‎lsien → ‎l-ilsien (“the language”).

• The same also usually happens before an initial s, x, ż + an obstruent, i.e. a consonant other than j, l, m, n, r, w. This rule is somewhat similar to the Italian impure s, but it is applied with variation:

  ‎il- + ‎skola → ‎l-iskola (“the school”) ; ‎il- + ‎xkupilja → ‎l-ixkupilja (“the brush”) — less often also: is-skola, ix-xkupilja.

• Otherwise, before coronal consonants except ġ, the l of the article is generally assimilated. This means that before the letters ċ, d, n, r, s, t, x, z, ż, the article will have the according forms iċ-, id-, in-, ir-, is-, it-, ix-, iz-, iż-:

  ‎il- + ‎dawl → ‎id-dawl (“the light”) ; ‎il- + ‎xemx → ‎ix-xemx (“the sun”) ; but: ‎il- + ‎ġnien → ‎il-ġnien (“the garden”).

• Apart from ġ and the cases where an i is prefixed, there is another exception to this assimilation, namely that ad-hoc nominalisations of particles and the like are usually not assimilated:

  ‎il- + ‎xiex → ‎il-xiex (“the what”) ; ‎il- + ‎dejjem → ‎il-dejjem (“the always, the forever”).

• In the context of a sentence, the i of the article is not only dropped when the following word begins with a vowel, but also when the preceding word ends with a vowel:

  Rajna l-mara. ― We saw the woman.

• Hence, even the assimilated forms of the article can be reduced to ċ-, d-, n-, r-, s-, t-, x-, z-, ż-:

  Rajna x-xemx. ― We saw the sun.

• In the same case, the article is spelt as one word with the prepositions b(i) (“with, by”), f(i) (“in”), għal (“to, for”), lil (“for”), minn (“from”), ma’ (“along with”), and ta’ (“of”):

  fil-ġnien (“in the garden”) ; mal-mara (“with the woman”) ; tax-xemx (“of the sun”).