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A reader wonders:
Can the word ‘prepone’ be used as an antonym of ‘postpone’? I’ve often heard people using this term but never been convinced about the usage. If this term is not correct or non-existent, what is the correct antonym of ‘postpone’ if any at all?
The word prepone to mean “to move forward in time,” is a word coined by English speakers in India. Example: The examination set for March 12 has been preponed to February 16.
Although a recent coinage–the OED dates its appearance from the 1970s–the word is constructed along the same lines as postpone,
postpone: from Latin postponere, “put after.” post=”after” and ponere=“to put” or “to place.”
The English prefix pre-, meaning “before,” comes from Latin prae, meaning “before.” If postponere, why not praeponere?
Some existing antonyms for postpone are “bring forward, move up, advance.” Ex. The ten o’clock meeting has been moved forward to nine.
The word prepone sounds too strange and unlovely to my ear for me to want to use it. However, if enough speakers decide that the word fills a need, it will catch on globally.
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41 Responses to “Is “Prepone” a Word?”
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Quoting from the OALD:
pre·pone / Ñ pri;’pJUn; NAmE Ñ -poUn/ verb[vn] (IndE, informal) to move sth to an earlier time than was originally planned
The word does exist, it has originated from Indian English and has been accepted by the Oxford dictionary. English as a language has borrowed from other languages and that is why it is so dynamic. The word chutney has been in the OALD since a long time, maybe an outcome of the British Raj.
“Example: The examination set for March 12 has been preponed to February 16.”
Shouldn’t this be: “Example: The examination set for February 16 has been preponed to March 12.”
If not, I am very confused.
Charles Lazo,
February 16 is earlier than March 12. The exam was announced for March 12, but now it will be given at an earlier date. It’s been “preponed” (moved up) to February 16.
If you’re confused by the usage, you can be sure that others are too.
“If you’re confused by the usage, you can be sure that others are too.”
Perhaps, but now I do understand. Mia Culpa.
If postponere, why not praeponere?
No reason — it is, in fact, attested Latin! Not with that meaning, though (it means “to put in charge” … the word “preposition” derives from the same source …)
I agree “pre-pone” is a term coined by Indians, though my English teacher repeatedly advised us not to use the word. I find it unpleasant too, and I still go by my English teacher’s alternative, “advanced”.
“The exams that were scheduled to begin on February 12 have been advanced to February 8.”
“Prepone” reminds me of a mother trying to potty-train her child (an unpleasant activity).
“Prepone” is unpleasant, too.
The exams will begin on February 8 instead of February 12.
thanks for the information,very useful
@Raman: Saying a date has “advanced” is far more confusing than using an inelegant word such as “prepone”, which is clearly the opposite of “postpone”.
If the date of an event is “advanced” it could mean advanced towards the present time (i.e. brought forward to an EARLIER date) or advanced into the future.
Far better to take Ken’s suggestion and reword to avoid all of them.
so nice to learn
If we accept “prepone”, would we say that an event that took place on schedule was “poned”?
My flight in India was actually “PREPONED” and left without me. I now stand corrected as i told the guy that preponed is not a word, and you cant do that. I see they can invent words and send flights early in India
Pfft. We have more English speakers than the English by far so we get to create words. In other words, QQ MOAR.
It’s better to use the word ‘advance’ rather than pre-pone!
@cecily:we say “i am paying the money in advance”… this means that we are paying it “before” the d-date. but “advanced” into future? Am not sure i got you.Enlighten us abt it.
@abc: I think the ambiguity of “advanced” only applies to appointments, not things such as payment.
Paying the money in advance is fine. It’s a common idiom that almost everyone understands.
Saying the date of a meeting has advanced is not at all clear. Has it advanced towards now (i.e. been brought forward) or advanced into the future (i.e. pushed back)?
Fortunately, I don’t think I’ve ever come across anyone using it in that way, except in discussions such as this, and I suspect that is because most people realise it’s not clear.
@ All
I’m from the Asian sub-continent & not proud to accept the fact that ‘prepone’ originated from my country. But I would suggest, all to avoid it.
@ Cecily
. And have come across regularly of these at work. But not a single occasion there was a ambiguity in what it conveyed.
Thats a first for me (‘your statement on the usage of ‘advanced’). I know of English speakers both native & absorbent, to use it proficiently for ‘advancement’ of date i.e. to mean the scheduled event (which includes payment) has been re-sketched to happen earlier
I am an Indian and we use “prepone” as a word, though I know this is not a word. For us the meaning is clear and we have no confusions as you have in the alternatives (advanced etc). My suggestion is accept it and use it, moreover when Oxford Dictionary accepted it whats the harm?
Pinakie,
Since writing this post, I’ve changed my mind about the relative loveliness of “prepone.” I think the word fills a need so, as you say, what’s the harm?
wery informative.i wanted to know that does this word exist buuut,,, it does and all because this website i lost a frikin bet. so, all thanks to you.
accepting the so called word prepone is not very convincing,if so we as well accept ‘poned’ for something scheduled on time.is it sound to use the word ‘anticipate’ insted? EG:the exam was anticipated.
Raman ur english teacher does not know english does not matters whether he/she is a harward graduate.
What I could learn from my investigation is that actually the word pre pone exists; note that there is a blank space between “pre” and “pone”.
Why Indians should be “ashamed” of using prepone?
It is bit rich of English speaking western countries to expect Indians to understand what they speak, even if means using slang, yet point out that words like prepone is wrong! nor make any effort towards understanding Indian English.
How about stop adding “like” before every word in spoken in London? No?
This is very interesting. I did not know that prepone is not a word. I was writing an email in Microsoft outlook and it underlines the word in red. Then I searched about the word and found this site. I think using prepone is fine as it is perfect antonym of postpone. Infact I am surprised why is it not a word in first place.
Why is this made-up word even given consideration? If you are going to do so, then “antepone” would probably be more accurate.
How about “Imminentise”?
Prepone is not only used in India, but also Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Gulf countries, Africa – makes up of 40% of the world.
Americans will next claim lift is not an English word.
British people will next claim tiffin is not an English word.
Britain and American do not even know English properly that is why when they claim every word not used there is not English word.
Next Lakh, crore etc are not English word.
Next, they will claim autorickshaw is not an English word.
Is it not a shame that countries where official language is English only learn half-baked English?
I don’t see anything wrong with the word prepone as it fills a need.
People should get over their xenophobia and accept this word which is in the dictionary.
I am an Indian and i don’t think there is anything to be ashamed of.
Raman’s English teacher seems to be a bigot and so is Enoch.
These kind of xenophobic mentalities are the roots of racism.
I agree with Cecily that the usage of ‘advanced’ is unclear.
English is dynamic and replete with words from other cultures and languages. It is absolutely asinine to continue with this thread of discussion on the current vein – especially since the word has found its place in the English Dictionary along with such words as “pukka,” “sahib,” “cummerbund,” “hookah,” etc.
If the western world, student and teacher alike, do not find the daily profanities (“F***,” “Scr**,” “Sh**,” etc.) unpleasant to utter, categorizing “prepone” as such is hypocritical at best.
Regarding the word “hookah”, you have to be careful when using it.
I told my wife and daughter that I had passed a cafe with Lebanese men outside with their hookahs.
After my daughter’s stunned reaction I told her I meant water pipes, not prostitutes. “We call them hubble bubbles” she told me archly.
Then again I grew up in a time when a “hooker” was the player who struck for the ball in a rugby scrum. Developing English can be confusing.
“Pundit”….. check out this word too, frequently in English speaking countries.
I think there has been a lot of words that has been added to the English language derived from other languages.. eg. Catamaran… an its in the dictionary and accepted and in wide usage.. so when the word “pre pone” helps to convey a meaning clearly…. no matter from where it originates and when it is accepted in the “English” dictionary what is wrong in using it…. at the end of the day language is all about communication….
Yup, ‘prepone’ is quite a common word in India, but as someone had said, our English teachers always advised us not to use it.
But with such majority already using the word, its only good to accept it and move on… Just like ‘Tiffin’, ‘Catamaran’, etc that have Indian origins.
Even the word ‘sugar’ has its roots to Tamil word ‘Sarkkarai’ that later became ‘Sharkara’ in Sanskrit, then ‘Sakkar’ in Arabic and ‘Sugar’ in English…
It is natural for modern languages, especially the English language (given its ability to absorb words from foreign languages), to continually evolve and adapt to their surroundings and to the changes in our world resulting from technological inventions and globalisation for example.
In the past, English has absorbed thousands of words from several Indian languages- such as “Pyjama”, “Jungle”, “Shampoo”, “Curry” among many others. The word “Prepone”, as displeasing as it may sound to some, does fill a gap- i.e. the antonym to ‘postpone’- in the language. Besides, it’s just a matter of getting used to it. People in India use the word all the time and its usage is just as common as ‘postpone’.
Importantly, the “pone” part of the word “postpone” comes from the Latin word “ponere” which literally means “to put”. In this context, it makes even more sense for the word “prepone” to exist.
Also those who put forth the lame argument that the word “prepone” carries less weight as it originated in India are verging on xenophobia, in my mind. Indian English is a recognised dialect of the English language with millions of speakers (Second only to the USA). Today, Indian English is not any more or any less valid than its British, American, Australian, Canadian or South African counterparts. There are many Indians who consider English their first language, myself included. Hence, words which enter mainstream English from this dialect of English have as much authority as any other dialect of the English language.
“Prepone” has already entered the Oxford dictionary. It is used daily and widely in the Indian subcontinent. It’s only a matter of time for the word to catch on globally.
So….. if Oxford has accepted it, what do i do to make my Microsoft Office, and in short all the online spell checkers and mail editors to accept it? I came here because of MS Word politely pointing out to me that prepone isn’t a word it recognizes. Of course, my word does that often, and i continue to click the add to dictionary option, but this i found to be quite disconcerting. Just because it originated from India, the word doesn’t have acceptance? What rubbish.
I agree with Sid and Siddhesh. The languages does continually evolve. Many words get absorbed in the language when people interact with other people – from various regions, states, nations, speaking various languages, of different mindset / thinking and so on. Marathi language also has been evolved over the period of time. If one will read Marathi literature from ancient time will understand the difference.
It is wise to accept the current trends of language, which most of the people use and understand, to make the communication easy. One should not become orthodox to follow and make others also to follow only what was there in ‘ancient’ times.
Don’t be ridiculous, Anju, Sid, Siddesh! Next we know it, you’ll be telling us that “please do the needful” is proper English grammar, along with “like” or “same like” in lieu of “such as” or “for example”; “the same” instead of “that” or “the aforementioned”; and “if any” as in “please let me know, if any”. All exhibit incorrect grammatical comprehension, and should be banned outside of the subcontinent, in my view.
Prepone doesn’t sound right although if sufficient amounts of population use it – it will become common.
My teacher always used to ask us to use ‘ brought forward!’.. The appointment/the examination was brought forward to february 12th/rather than pre-poned to.
It is very common in people who use different languages (or know more than one) to borrow/beg/steal/twist/invent words – sometimes this adds to the language other times it does not. Sometimes – pedantic bores get irritated by such changes, at other times every one accepts it and uses it (goes with the flow)
Bheja fry/magaz kaa dahii/chutney/jungle/bunglow(bungalow)/pre-pone and the others above are all part and parcel of the same – ie each human’s tendency to add to something. to simplify whats complicated (to him/her), to complicate whats simple, to have absolute authority over others, to always be able to change everything beside themselves !( eg. this is incorrect so I proclaim to ban it!!)
The above 2 paragraphs are grammatically completely imperfect (how can a thing by complete yet imperfect?!) but I hope they make the thing I want to make clear – clear!!
Hey Greeny,
Why such prejudice. After all, double negatives (don’t know nothing) improper grammar (you should have came yesterday) is commonly used by native English speakers.
Is this effort to expand and enrich the language to elitist to your taste?
Oh Greeny,
By the way some of the expressions you are taking so much offence to are old English expressions which may have been discontinued in some parts of the world by so called native “dumbed down” English speakers.
Before you have a melt down, “dumbed down” is a adjective for Engilsh spoken by the the people and not for the people mentioned above.