archi-, prefix
(ˌɑːkɪ-)
a. L. archi-, Gr. ἀρχι-: see arch-. This form of the prefix is retained in words taken in modern times from Gr. or L., directly or through mod.Fr., and in compounds formed on the model of these. Hence it is sometimes found in the adjectives, etc. belonging to substantives, which, from their earlier introduction, have themselves the form arch-, as archdeacon, archidiaconal, archbishop, archiepiscopal. Some words have both forms, as archi-presbyter, arch-presbyter.
1. = arch-; chief, principal, first in authority or order. a. in ns., as ‖ archidiˈdascalus [latinized f. Gr. ἀρχι-διδάσκαλος], head-master of a school; whence archididaˈscalian, -ine, a., of a headmaster; † archiguˈbernacy [L. archigubernus chief pilot], office of governor-in-chief; archi-master, see archemaster; archi-tyˈpographer [mod.L. architypographus in Laudian Statutes], chief printer, superintendent of printing office. So † archibellows (nonce-wd.), archi-table. b. in adjs., as archidiaconal, archiepiscopal, etc.; also archi-heretical, archi-prelatical, archi-supreme, archi-symbolical.
| 1599 James I Basil. Doron (1682) 69 Buchanan's or Knoxe's Chronicles..these *archibellouses of rebellion. |
| 1811 Parr Wks. 1828 VII. 440 The long exercise of petty *Archididascalian authority. |
| 1881 Athenæum 15 Jan. 93/2 Beneath the clerical and *archididascaline roof. |
| 1844 Sir J. Stephen Eccl. Biogr. (1850) II. 367 The responsible office of *Archididascalus. 1865 Staunton Gt. Sch. Eng. Westm. ii. 133 Two masters styled respectively *Archididascalus and Hypodidascalus. |
| 1665 Surv. Aff. Netherl. 231 They did that at the Sea by an *Archigubernacy, or chief Governour and Admiral. |
| 1721 Bailey, *Archiheretical, false in the highest and most dangerous degree. |
| 1637 Bastwick Ld. Bishops i. A iiij, *Archiprelaticall Iurisdiction is grounded upon Canon and Positive Law. |
| 1813 G. Edwards Meas. True Policy 63 Arranged under the Supreme Administrative, as *archi⁓supreme. |
| 1660 Jer. Taylor Worthy Commun. i. §21 The Divinest and *Archisymbolical feast. |
| 1842 Mrs. Gore Fascin. 48 The pedigree to be deposited upon the *architable of the king. |
| a 1672 Wood Life (1848) 172 n., Dr. F..would not suffer him to execute the place of *architypographer. |
2. In
Biol. and
Anthrop., meaning ‘archetypal’ or ‘primitive’: as
archiˈnephron, the primitive kidney, whence
archiˈnephric a.;
archipteˈrygium, the primitive fin or wing, whence
archipteˈrygian a. Also
archiˈlithic,
archiˈzoic: see
archæo-.
| 1880 Huxley Cray-Fish iv. 211 The primitive alimentary apparatus or archenteron. 1878 Bell Gegenbauer's Anat. 603 The most anterior end of the archinephric duct. 1878 Green Coal iv. 146 The archipterygian type is not plainly visible in such a limb. 1879 tr. Haeckel's Evol. Man II. xv. 9 The Primordial, Archizoic, or Archilithic Epoch. |