Word.ws English Dictionary

gain-

gain- prefix: prefix meaning "against", "contrary to", "in opposition to", "counter-".

Prefix

gain-

  1. Prefix meaning "against", "contrary to", "in opposition to", "counter-".
    • gainsay, gainstand, gainstay, gainstrive
  2. Prefix denoting reciprocal action; "in return"; "counter-".
    • gainclap, gaingive, gainyield
  3. Prefix denoting restoration or a return to a previous state; "back again".
    • gainbuy, gaincover, gaintake
  4. Prefix denoting repetition; "over again"; "anew"; again-.
    • gainrising, gaincoming

Forms of gain-

alternative formgane-

Origin of gain-

From Middle English gain- (prefix), from Old English geġn-, gēan- (“back, against, in return”, prefix), from Proto-West Germanic *gagin, from Proto-Germanic *gagin (“towards, against”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian juun- (“counter-”), West Frisian tsjin- (“counter-”), Dutch tegen- (“counter-”), German gegen- (“against, toward, at”), Icelandic gagn- (“through”). More at again.

Words formed from gain-

Questions about gain-

What does gain- mean?
Gain- means prefix meaning "against", "contrary to", "in opposition to", "counter-".
What part of speech is gain-?
Gain- is a prefix.

Words near gain- in the dictionary

  1. gain twist
  2. gain twists
  3. gain upon
  4. gain weight
  5. gain'd
  6. gain-
  7. gain-of-function
  8. gain-of-function research
  9. gain-of-function researches
  10. gain-sharing
  11. gainable

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gain- (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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