cata-: Meaning and Definition of

cata-

Pronunciation: [key]
  1. a prefix meaning “down,” “against,” “back,” occurring originally in loanwords from Greek (cataclysm; catalog; catalepsy); on this model, used in the formation of other compound words (catagenesis; cataphyll).
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.