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Preverb

While not a widely accepted linguistic term, the term preverb is used in both Northwest Caucasian and Caddoan linguistics to describe certain elements prefixed to verbs.

Theoretically, any prefix could be called a preverbal element. However, in practice, the term preverb applies more narrowly in both Northwest Caucasian and Caddoan linguistics, and refers to a prefixed element that is normally outside the premise of verbal morphology, such as locations of noun elements, or less often, noun elements themselves.

In the Northwest Caucasian family, such elements can include nouns, directional and locative preverbs (equivalents of prepositions), as in this example from Ubykh:

In Caddoan linguistics, preverbal elements are less well defined as a class, and often "preverb" designates a part of the verbal root which can be separated from the rest of the root by certain prefixes, as in this Wichita example:

In Mandarin, the term preverb is used somewhat differently, to describe certain words which carry the meanings of prepositions in English. These words are lexically verbs in Mandarin, and appear before the noun in question.