Later

How to spell later

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce later

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does later mean?

1. adverbAt a time after the present moment or after some other event.
2. adjectiveOccurring at a more advanced or subsequent stage in a sequence of time.

Later in a sentence

• adverb

  The manager promised to send the report later this afternoon.

• adjective

  Her later novels were far darker than her early work.

• adverb

  We can finish the budget now and review the figures later.

• adjective

  The renovation will be tackled at a later date.

Where does later come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word is the comparative form of 'late', which comes from the Old English 'læt', meaning 'slow' or 'tardy'. That adjective belonged to the broader Germanic family, sharing roots with the Dutch 'laat' and the German 'lass', all carrying the sense of slackness or delay. The comparative was originally 'lætra', and over the centuries of Middle English the spelling settled into the modern 'later', with a single 't' because the long vowel in 'late' does not double the consonant before the suffix. That single 't' is the key spelling point, since the unrelated word 'latter' (meaning the second of two) keeps its doubled 't' from a separate Old English form. The adverb 'late' and its comparative have meant 'after the expected or usual time' since the earliest English records.

How the word is built

• late (root: late, delayed)
• -er (comparative suffix)