pluperfect
|plu-per-fect|
🇺🇸
/ˌpluːˈpɝfɪkt/
🇬🇧
/ˌpluːˈpɜːfɪkt/
past of the past
Etymology
'pluperfect' originates from Latin via Modern/Medieval Latin, specifically the phrase 'plus quam perfectus' (also seen as 'plusquamperfectus'), where 'plus' meant 'more', 'quam' meant 'than', and 'perfectus' meant 'completed' or 'perfect'.
'pluperfect' changed from the Latin phrase 'plus quam perfectus' into Medieval/Modern Latin 'plusquamperfectus' and was borrowed into English (scholarly/grammatical usage) from Latin in the 16th–17th century as 'pluperfect'.
Initially it was a literal compound meaning 'more than perfect'; over time it evolved into the technical grammatical term for a tense that denotes an action completed prior to another past action.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
a grammatical tense (also called the past perfect) expressing an action or state that was completed before another past action or time.
In English, the pluperfect (often called the past perfect) is formed with had + past participle.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Last updated: 2025/10/05 06:19