antepreterit
|an-te-pre-ter-it|
/ˌæn.tiˈprɛtərɪt/
before the past
Etymology
'antepreterit' originates from Latin, specifically the prefix 'ante-' (Latin 'ante') meaning 'before' and the word 'praeteritus' (Latin) which gave English 'preterite' meaning 'gone by' or 'past'.
'praeteritus' in Latin yielded Old French/Latin-influenced forms and entered English as 'preterite'; in modern English the prefix 'ante-' was attached to 'preterite' to form the compound 'antepreterit' to indicate 'before the preterite'.
Initially composed to mean 'before the past' (literally 'ante- + preterit'), it has been used in specialist linguistic contexts to denote a tense anterior to the preterite; the sense remains close to the original literal components but is specialized grammatically.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
a (usually linguistic) term for a tense or form that denotes an action or state anterior to the preterite (simple past); roughly equivalent to 'past anterior' or sometimes used for pluperfect.
Some grammarians use 'antepreterit' to describe a tense expressing an action anterior to the simple past.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Last updated: 2025/08/22 23:13