I made a comment on this SO question some days ago:
Are you trying to just overwrite the data at the beginning of the file or insert new data without losing the data that is already there?
Some of the answers had the word prepend (eg: "To prepend data: …").
Looking for a translation of prepend to Portuguese (pt-BR), I find it as "anteceder" or "preceder".
I think the word "anteceder" in Portuguese, is most related to time (eg: "something will happens before that time"), and "preceder" is most related to a kind of priority or to describe a grammar rule, but not to files (or data in this case) on a computer system.
On Babylon, I found the translation of prepend as "acrescentar ao começo", which sounds like append to the beginning and it also showed me the definition in English: add something at the beginning (slang, the opposite of append)", which makes sense ("the opposite of append").
In a technical context, must I use the word prepend for a better understanding or if I write "insert in the beginning" or "add new data to the beginning" is it OK for an English reader?
Best Answer
Prepend refers to "attach/insert before" (at the beginning), while append refers to "attach/insert after" (at the end).
The translations you describe seem to be more focussed on time, which sounds more like they are a better fit to the word "precede" (e.g. the main course precedes desert).
Whether you choose to use the single word or the phrase, it is a decision you must make while balancing being concise/precise with your language at the risk of miscommunicating (not everyone will fully understand the term), versus being more verbose but more easily understood.
As noted in other answers/comments, append/prepend are commonly used within computer science/software development (common in code libraries) but not necessarily in everyday speech, indicating that your audience will influence your decision too.