- super-
- word-forming element meaning "above, over, beyond," from Latin super-, from adverb and preposition super "above, over, on the top (of), beyond, besides, in addition to," from *(s)uper-, variant form of PIE *uper "over" (source also of Sanskrit upari, Avestan upairi "over, above, beyond," Greek hyper, Old English ofer "over," Gothic ufaro "over, across," Gaulish ver-, Old Irish for), comparative of root *upo "under" (see sub-). In English words from Old French, it appears as sur-. The primary sense seems to have shifted over time from usually meaning "beyond" to usually meaning "very much," which can be contradictory. E.g. supersexual, which is attested from 1895 as "transcending sexuality," from 1968 as "very sexual."
