bis-

See also: Appendix:Variations of "bis"

English

Prefix

bis-

1. An occasional variant of bi- prefixed to roots beginning with a vowel, as in bisalternate
2. (chemistry, obsolete) A variant of di- used to indicate that the component that does not take the prefix occurs twice in the compound: a bisoxide is of the form B₂O (cf. dioxide for XO₂)
3. (mathematics, chemistry) A variant of di-, used for substitutions of two complex rather than simple units.

   Bis (η⁶-arene) metal complexes have been made for many transition metals by the Al/AlCl₃ reduction method.

See also

• tris-
• tetrakis-

Anagrams

• SBI, SIB, IBs, BSI, sib, IBS

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bis/
  • Hyphenation: bis-
• IPA^(key): /biz/ (before a vowel or a voiced consonant)

Etymology 1

From Latin bis (“twice”).

Prefix

bis-

1. Alternative form of bi-; bis-; di-

   ‎bis- ‎croma (“quaver”) → ‎biscroma (“demisemiquaver”)

2. great-

   ‎bis- ‎nonno (“grandfather”) → ‎bisnonno (“great-grandfather”)

Derived terms

Italian terms prefixed with bis-

Etymology 2

Unknown

Prefix

bis-

1. used with adjectives or verbs to denote a generic pejorative connotation

   ‎bis- ‎unto (“oily, greasy”) → ‎bisunto (“very oily or greasy”)

Spanish

Alternative forms

• biz-

Etymology

From Latin bis (“twice”).

Prefix

bis-

1. bis-
2. great-

Derived terms

Spanish terms prefixed with bis-

Further reading

• “bis-”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28