after
/ˈæftəɹ/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: 6.11 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
prep
Subsequently to; following in time; later than.
prep
Subsequently to; following in time; later than.
prep
Subsequently to; following in time; later than.
prep
Subsequently to; following in time; later than.
prep
Subsequently to; following in time; later than.
prep
Subsequently to; following in time; later than.
prep
Subsequently to; following in time; later than.
Example Sentences
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep Proto-Indo-European *-o Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó Proto-Indo-European *-teros Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep(o)teros Proto-Germanic *after Old English æfter Middle English after English after From Middle English after, from Old English æfter, from Proto-West Germanic *aftar, from Proto-Germanic *after, *aftiri, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂epoteros (“further behind, further away”), from *h₂epo (“off, away”). Cognate with Scots efter (“after”), North Frisian efter (“after, behind”), West Frisian after, achter, efter (“behind; after”), Low German and Dutch achter (“behind”), German after- (“after-”), Danish and Swedish efter (“after”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk etter (“after”), Faroese and Icelandic eftir (“after”). The Irish usage to indicate recent completion of an activity is a calque of the Irish collocation Táim tar éis... (“I have just...”, literally “I am after...”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈæftəɹ/
- British English: /ˈɑːftə/