preform

From pre- + form.

preform (plural preforms)

1. An object that has undergone preliminary shaping but is not yet in its final form.
2. (archaeology) The rough, incomplete and unused basic form of a stone tool.
3. (linguistics) A word that is no longer in use, but has been reconstructed from current ones.
   • 2025, Cid Swanenvleugel, The Pre-Roman Elements of the Sardinian Lexicon, page 130:

     Trask notes that Bq. gorosti could have had *goloztri as a pre-form, in which case the presence of -r- in the Sardinian forms might be original.

preform (third-person singular simple present preforms, present participle preforming, simple past and past participle preformed)

1. To shape something before some other operation.

preform

1. Misspelling of perform.

• perform