zero prefix

English

Etymology

From zero +‎ prefix.

Noun

zero prefix (plural zero prefixes)

1. (UK, telephony) The digit 0 that begins all telephone numbers in the United Kingdom, which is substituted for the country code in the event of international calls.
2. (linguistic morphology) A prefix which is a null morpheme, used in models of linguistic analysis to represent the lack of a prefix where one might otherwise be expected (for example, as one of several inflections that a stem can take, or the reduction of a historically vocalised prefix to the point that it is inaudible).

   Synonym: null prefix

   Coordinate term: zero suffix

See also

• ∅- (representation of the zero prefix in linguistics)