prepend /pree`pend'/ vt.

[by analogy with `append'] To prefix. As with `append' (but not `prefix' or `suffix' as a verb), the direct object is always the thing being added and not the original word (or character string, or whatever). "If you prepend a semicolon to the line, the translation routine will pass it through unaltered."

--The Jargon File version 4.3.1, ed. ESR, autonoded by rescdsk.