after

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English after, also efter,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English æfter (“behind; later in time; in pursuit of”),^[5][6][7] from Proto-Germanic *after (“behind”).^[8][3] Its cognates include Old Frisian efter, Old Saxon aftar, Old High German aftar, Dutch achter, Old Norse eptir and aptr (“back”), and Gothic 𐌰𐍆𐍄𐍂𐌰 (aftra, “back, again”) and 𐌰𐍆𐍄𐌰𐍂𐍉 (aftarō, “from behind”).^{[5][9][10][11]} The word was originally a comparative meaning "farther off, more away":^[5][9] Etymonline analyses it as Old English of (“off”) with a comparative suffix,^[5] Kroonen as an adverbial formation to *aba with the contrastive suffix Proto-Indo-European *-tero-,^[8] and Hoad as a comparative of the base æftan (“from behind”).^[7][12] Etymonline and Orel compare Ancient Greek ἀπωτέρω (apōtérō, “farther”) and Old Persian apataram (“further, far away”),^[5][11] and Barnhart traces the Germanic form to Proto-Indo-European *opiteros, from *opi (“back”);^[9] Merriam-Webster offers *h₁epi- (“on, at”) with a suffix of separation, as a possibility only.^[3] Ayto notes that if the base goes back to *ap-, the source of Latin ab (“away, from”) and of English of and off, the word meant literally "more off".^[12] The conjunction began as a shortening of the phrase after that.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Next, following in time: before 735, in Bede's Death Song.^[9] Already in Old English the word was both adverb and preposition, for "behind" in place, "later" in time, and "in pursuit of".^[5][6][13]

Semantic evolution

The Old English uses of place and time have both survived: "behind, following" and "in pursuit of, in search of" are recorded in Old English, as is "later, afterwards".^[13][6] As a conjunction, "after the time that", it dates from late Old English,^[5] though the Middle English Dictionary finds the bare conjunction rare before about 1375, beside after that.^[2] From about 1300 it also meant "in imitation of, in the manner of",^[5] and Langland used it about 1400 for "lower in rank or importance".^[13] The Old English adjective æftera meant "second", a sense lost by 1225; later the adverb was used attributively for "later, subsequent" and, chiefly at sea, "nearer the stern".^[13][10][7] Etymonline records after you, in giving way to another, by 1650, and after hours from 1814.^[5] In Irish English to be after doing means "to have just done", on the model of Irish tar éis (“after”), since Irish has no verb "to have";^[14][10] Dolan quotes Joyce's Ulysses: "Sure I'm after seeing him not five minutes ago".^[14] In Australian and American slang after is short for afternoon, chiefly in this after, from 1906.^[13][15]

Timeline

• before 735 – next, following in time, in Bede's Death Song.^[9]
• Old English – behind; later, afterwards; in pursuit or search of.^[13][5][6]
• Old English – adjective, second (obsolete by 1225).^[13][10]
• late Old English – conjunction, after the time that.^[5]
• c. 1300 – in imitation of, in the manner of.^[5]
• c. 1400 – lower in rank or importance, in Langland's Piers Plowman.^[13]
• 1650 – after you, in yielding precedence.^[5]
• 1741 – with verbs of cleaning, as a result of what someone has done, in Fielding.^[13]
• 1814 – after hours, after regular working hours.^[5]
• 1906 – noun, afternoon, in Australian English.^[13][15] Merriam-Webster dates it to about 1902.^[3]

Meanings

Preposition

1. Later than; following in time: We went for a swim after breakfast.^[16][3]
2. Behind; following in place or order: The ducklings waddled after their mother.^[16][3][13]
3. In pursuit or search of: The dogs ran after the hare.^[16][13]
4. About; concerning, as in asking after someone's health.^[16][3]
5. Considering; in view of: After all that fuss, he didn't even come.^[16]
6. Next to in rank or importance.^[16][3][13]
7. In imitation of; in the manner of: a drawing after Dürer.^[16][5]
8. (Irish English) With be and a verb in -ing: having just done something: I'm after finishing my tea.^[14][10]

Adverb

1. Afterwards; later: Three days after, the parcel arrived.^[16][13][3]
2. Behind: The children ran ahead and the dog trotted after.^[3][13][10]

Conjunction

1. Later than the time when: She called after the meeting ended.^[3][16][2]

Adjective

1. Later; subsequent: in after life.^[3][10]
2. (nautical) Nearer the stern of a ship: the after cabin.^[3][13][10]
3. (obsolete, Old English–1225) Second.^[13][10]

Noun

1. (Australian, informal) Afternoon, chiefly in this after.^[13][15][3]

Word family

• aftermarket
• aftermath
• aftertaste
• aftertime
• afterward
• hereafter

Related words

• aft
• abaft
• afterwards
• of
• off

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
7. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
12. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ a b c Dolan, Terence Patrick (2004), A Dictionary of Hiberno-English: The Irish Use of English, 2nd ed., Dublin: Gill & Macmillan
15. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
16. ^ a b c d e f g h i Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins