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Prefatory means forming a preface: the remarks, notes, or pages that come before the real start of a book, a speech, or a paper. Prefatory remarks are the few words you say first to get people ready. It is a , academic word; ordinary people say introductory, or just “a few words first.” Though actually, English borrowed prefatory from Latin. It did not grow inside English from the word preface — they are cousins, sharing an old Latin idea of “saying something beforehand,” but one is not made from the other. It is easy to mix with preparatory (getting ready for something later), which is a different family.
序言的；作為前言的
組成From Medieval Latin *praefator + -ory, from Medieval Latin prefatia (the source of English preface), for classical Latin praefatio, “a saying beforehand.” Borrowed from Latin; not derived in English from preface.
同家族的字
- prefacecousin, not a parent: both go back to Latin praefatio / prefatia, “saying something beforehand”
原始詞典資料1 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
prefatoryadj/ˈpɹɛfət(ə)ɹi/
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Serving as a preface or prelude; introductory, preliminary.
- We must begin by showing how the Diamond first fell into the hands of my uncle Herncastle, when he was serving in India fifty years since. This prefatory narrative I have already got by me in the form of an old family paper, which relates the necessary particulars on the authority of an eye-witness.
- The "5th Mo. (May) 1939" issue of Bradshaw's Railway Shipping, and Hotel Guide for Great Britain and Ireland appears in a cream cover printed in blue and gold, and a prefatory note explains that, as 1939 is being celebrated as the centenary year of Bradshaw, it is intended to adopt this livery from now until the September issue inclusive. For October, the centenary month, Bradshaw will be published in a gold cover printed in red and blue.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。