contra- (Kontra-, contre-). Respectively, It., Ger., and Fr. prefixes to names of instr. signifying lower in pitch (by about an octave). Thus contrebasse is Fr. for db., contrebasson Fr. for double-bn. In mus. It. these are contrabasso and contrafagotto, though in correct modern It. they should be contrabbasso and controfagotto. The Eng. contrabass is another name for a bass viol. To use it as the trans. of contrabasso is not strictly correct since the correct counterpart of the prefix is ‘counter-’. But no one would know what you were talking about if you said ‘counterbassoon’, since the Eng. term is ‘double-bassoon’ and the Amer. ‘contrabassoon’.

contra- repr. L. prefix contrā- (cf. prec.), denoting opposition or the opposite side or direction, which, somewhat rare in classical L., became common in later L. and Rom. (in Sp., Pg., It. contra-, in F. contre- COUNTER-).

contra- prefix denoting against or opposite.