prefatory

Etymology
From, from  (whence ), for classical  – see  for details.

Note that this is borrowed from Latin, not derived in English from, as in occasional misspelling.

Adjective

 * 1) Serving as a preface or prelude; introductory, preliminary.

Usage notes
Rather formal and academic – is less formal, while  is less formal still. A casual alternative is to use some form of, as in “To start…” or “Let me start by saying…”, as opposed to “By way of prefatory remarks…”.

Translations

 * Arabic:
 * Bengali:
 * Bulgarian: ,
 * Chinese:
 * Mandarin:
 * Finnish:, alku-
 * French: préfatoire
 * German: präponierend ,
 * Italian:
 * Persian:
 * Portuguese: prefatório
 * Russian: ,
 * Spanish:, prefatorio
 * Swedish: inlednings-,