preverbal

From pre- + verbal.

preverbal (not comparable)

1. (psychology, linguistics) At an early stage of development in which one is not yet able to communicate by means of words.
   • 1989, Anne Fernald, “Intonation and Communicative Intent in Mothers' Speech to Infants: Is the Melody the Message?”, in Child Development, volume 60, number 6, page 1497:

     The expressive power of intonation in communication with preverbal infants was a topic of considerable interest in the early literature on language acquisition.

2. (linguistics, of a part of speech) Occurring before the verb in a sentence or expression.
   • 1974, J. A. Dunn, “Preverbal Position in Coast Tsimshian”, in International Journal of American Linguistics, volume 40, number 1, page 10:

     I will attempt to document some recent syntactic (word order) changes involving preverbal noun phrases in the Coast Tsimshian language.

preverbal (plural preverbals)

1. (grammar) A preverb.

From pre- +‎ verbal.

• IPA^(key): /pɾebeɾˈbal/ [pɾe.β̞eɾˈβ̞al]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: pre‧ver‧bal

preverbal m or f (masculine and feminine plural preverbales)

1. preverbal

• “preverbal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025