posterior
Pronunciation
Etymology
It is borrowed from Latin posterior (“later, after, behind”),[2][3][4][5] the comparative of posterus (“coming after, following, next”),[3][6][7][8] from post (“after, behind”).[3][6][5][9] As a noun it continues the Latin uses of the adjective as a noun: the masculine for a person who lived later or a descendant, and the neuter posterius, usually plural posteriora, for something that comes after or the hinder part of the body.[2] Barnhart allows some influence of Middle French postérieur, but thinks direct borrowing from Latin more likely.[4] The American Heritage Dictionary traces Latin post to the root Proto-Indo-European *apo- (“off, away”).[6]
Earliest recorded meaning
As a noun, descendants: 1509, in J. Locher's verses in Barclay's Ship of Fools.[2][7] The adjective, later in time or order, is first recorded in 1534, in Sir Thomas More.[2][4][7]
Semantic evolution
The adjective first meant later in time,[3][2] and Johnson (1755) still defined it as happening after, placed after, following.[10] The sense situated behind, chiefly in anatomy, is recorded from 1578 in the OED,[2] from the 1630s in Etymonline and Barnhart.[3][4] The noun posteriors, descendants (1509–1889), and the later part (1598, in Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost), died out;[2] the humorous use for the buttocks, at first plural and now usually singular, began in 1605 in Chapman's All Fools.[2][3] Middle English already had the phrase partes posterialle (“the buttocks”).[3] Later technical uses are in obstetrics (1886) and in statistics, where a posterior probability is one calculated after taking account of observations (1921).[2]
Timeline
- 1509 – noun, descendants (obsolete by 1889).[2][7]
- 1534 – later in time or order.[2][4]
- 1578 – situated at the back, chiefly in anatomy.[2]
- 1598 – the later part, in Shakespeare (obsolete).[2]
- 1605 – the buttocks.[2]
- 1628 – adverb, subsequently (obsolete by 1853).[2]
- 1886 – obstetrics, of a posterior presentation.[2]
- 1921 – statistics, of a probability revised after observation.[2]
Meanings
Adjective
- Situated at or toward the back; behind; opposed to anterior.[11][7][2]
- (anatomy) In human anatomy, dorsal, toward the spine.[11][7]
- (zoology) At or near the hind end of the body; caudal.[11][7]
- Coming after in time or order; subsequent.[11][7][2]
- (botany) Of a flower part, nearest the main stem.[11][7]
- (statistics) Of a probability, calculated after taking account of observations.[2]
Noun
- The buttocks; the rump of an animal: He landed on his posterior.[11][7][2]
- (archaic) posteriors: descendants.[7][2][5]
Word family
- posteriorly
- posteriority
Related words
- post-
- posticous
- posterity
- postern
- preposterous
- a posteriori
- anterior
References
- ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
- ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
- ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
- ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins