| a combining form with the general sense “first, principal,” that is prefixed to nouns denoting things that are earliest, most basic, or bottommost (archiblast; archiphoneme; architrave); or denoting individuals who direct or have authority over others of their class, usually named by the base noun (archimandrite; architect). |
| archi- or arch- pref.
[French archi- and Italian arci-, both from Latin archi-, from Greek arkhi-, arkh-, from arkhein, to begin, rule.] |
archi- or arch- or arche-
pref.
Earlier; primitive: archenteron.
