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latter

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈlæt.ə/, US /ˈlæt̬.ɚ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English lattre, lator,[2] inherited from Old English lætra (“slower”),[2][3][4] the comparative of læt, the source of late.[2][4] It corresponds to Old Frisian letora, Middle High German lazzer “slower” and Old Norse latari.[2][3] It is in essence a Middle English variant, with an unlengthened vowel, of later;[5] modern later is a new formation of the 16th century from late and -er.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Slower, in Old English and early Middle English: about 1000 in the OED.[6]

Semantic evolution

Belonging to a later or more advanced period is from about 1200,[6] and forms with -tt- begin in the later 14th century.[5] The latter end, the concluding part or the end of life, is from about 1290,[6] and near the end of a period or of the world, as in latter days, from 1513.[6] The sense “the second of two mentioned” is first recorded in 1555,[2][6] and it is used with the former to avoid repetition, though incorrectly of more than two.[5] In Scotland it meant “hindmost” in the 16th century.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 1000 – slower.[6]
  • c. 1200 – later.[6]
  • c. 1290 – latter end.[6]
  • 1513 – near the end.[6]
  • 1555 – the second of two.[2][6]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Being the second of two persons or things mentioned: the latter option.
  2. Near or nearer to the end: the latter part of the year.
  3. (archaic) Later; more recent.

Noun

  1. the latter: the second of two persons or things mentioned, as opposed to the former.

Word family

  • latterly
  • lattermost
  • latter-day
  • last
  • late
  • later

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press