posterity (n.)

"a person's offspring, descendants collectively," late 14c., posterite, from Old French posterité (14c.), from Latin posteritatem (nominative posteritas) "future, future time; after-generation, offspring;" literally "the condition of coming after," from posterus "coming after, subsequent," from post "after" (see post-). Old English words for this included æftercneoreso, framcynn.

also from late 14c.

Entries linking to posterity

post-

word-forming element meaning "after," from Latin post "behind, after, afterward," from *pos-ti (source also of Arcadian pos, Doric poti "toward, to, near, close by;" Old Church Slavonic po "behind, after," pozdu "late;" Lithuanian pas "at, by"), from PIE *apo- (source also of Greek apo "from," Latin ab "away from" see apo-).

Trends of posterity

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.

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arboricide

The name of Gastrell, who cut down Shakspeare's mulberry tree, is justly followed by the execrations of posterity, and hangs...

epigone

classical use with reference to the sons of the Seven who warred against Thebes; plural of epigonos "offspring, successor, posterity...

hinder

Middle English had hinderhede, literally "hinder-hood; posterity in time, inferiority in rank;" and hinderling "person fallen...

bull

Three examples attributed to Sir Boyle Roche: "Why should we do anything for posterity, for what, in the name of goodness..., has posterity done for us?"...

irregular

If a man with a triangular front and a polygonal back were allowed to exist and to propagate a still more Irregular posterity...

seed

Figurative sense of "offspring, progeny, posterity," now rare or archaic except in biblical use, was in Old English; the...

generation

early 14c., "body of individuals born about the same period" (historically 30 years but in other uses as few as 17), on the notion of "descendants at the same stage in the line of descent," from Old French generacion "race, people, species; progeny, offspring; act of procreating"

post

"a timber of considerable size set upright," from Old English post "pillar, doorpost," and from Old French post "post, upright beam," both from Latin postis "door, post, doorpost," in Medieval Latin "a beam, rod, pole," which is perhaps from Vulgar Latin *por- "forth," a variant

screen

mid-14c., screne, "upright piece of furniture providing protection from heat of a fire, drafts, etc.," probably from a shortened (Anglo-French? compare Anglo-Latin screna) variant of Old North French escren, Old French escran "fire-screen, tester of a bed" (early 14c.). This is o

surgery

c. 1300, sirgirie, "the work of a surgeon; medical treatment of an operative nature, such as cutting-operations, setting of fractures, etc.," from Old French surgerie, surgeure, contraction of serurgerie, from Late Latin chirurgia "surgery," from Greek kheirourgia, from kheirourg

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updated on September 18, 2020

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Dictionary entries near posterity

postdiluvial

posted

poster

posterior

posteriority

posterity

postern

post-glacial

post-graduate

post-haste

post-hole