de

¹ American  

[duh, duh, de, di] / də, də, dɛ, dɪ /

preposition

1. from; of (used in French, Spanish, and Portuguese personal names, originally to indicate place of origin).

   Comte de Rochambeau; Don Ricardo de Aragón.

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DE ² American  

abbreviation

1. Delaware (approved especially for use with zip code).

2. destroyer escort.

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de' ³ American  

[duh, de] / də, dɛ /

preposition

1. dei (used in Italian names as an elided form ofdei ).

   de' Medici.

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de- ⁴ American  

1. a prefix occurring in loanwords from Latin (decide ); also used to indicate privation, removal, and separation (dehumidify ), negation (demerit; derange ), descent (degrade; deduce ), reversal (detract ), intensity (decompound ).

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D.E. ⁵ American  

abbreviation

1. Doctor of Engineering.

2. driver education.

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de- ¹ British  

prefix

1. removal of or from something specified

   deforest

   dethrone

2. reversal of something

   decode

   decompose

   desegregate

3. departure from

   decamp

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DE ² British  

abbreviation

1. (formerly in Britain) Department of Employment

2. Delaware

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de ³ British  

/ də /

1. of; from: occurring as part of some personal names and originally indicating place of origin

   Simon de Montfort

   D'Arcy

   de la Mare

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de ⁴ British  

abbreviation

1. Germany

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Etymology

Origin of de¹

From French, Portuguese, Spanish, from Latin dē

Origin of de-⁴

Middle English < Latin dē-, prefixal use of dē (preposition) from, away from, of, out of; in some words, < French < Latin dē- or dis- dis- ¹

Example Sentences

The study team included experts from the Universidad del Rosario in Colombia, the Clínica Universitaria de Navarra and Universitat de Valencia in Spain, and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden.

From Science Daily • Apr. 14, 2026

Recently, someone I was interviewing noticed my scapular of the Santo Niño de Atocha with the word “Amor” on the other side.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 14, 2026

Romero's absence is a major setback for newly-appointed head coach Roberto de Zerbi as he bids to keep Tottenham in the top flight.

From BBC • Apr. 13, 2026

You spend so much time cross-training on the bike—and burn so much fuel—that there was speculation during the Olympics that you could also turn pro and race the Tour de France.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 13, 2026

Not quite to second position port de bras.

From "The Sea in Winter" by Christine Day