inter-

inter- L. prep. ‘between’, ‘among’, repr. in F. by entre- (see ENTER-), used as a prefix with the senses:
1.. between, in between, in the midst, as in INTERCALARY, INTERPOSE, INTERVENE;

2.. at intervals, as in INTERMIT;

3.. with preventive or destructive effect, as in INTERCEPT. The earliest adoptions of such words in Eng. came through F. forms with entre-, but in XVI remodelling of these forms on the L. inter- began, and at the same time the use of the prefix was widely extended. Meanwhile the prefix had acquired a mutual or reciprocal sense, as in interdependence, intermarriage, interplay. The other large group of comps. in which inter- has become a living formative is that in which it governs prepositionally (with the senses ‘between’, ‘among’, and ‘forming a link between’) the sb. implied in the radical part of the comp., as in interalveolar, intercollegiate, interdenominational, international, intervocalic. The prefix enters freely into combination with sbs. to form attrib. phrases, as in inter-county match.