Posterior

How to spell posterior

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce posterior

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does posterior mean?

1. adjectiveSituated at or nearer to the back of something, especially the body.
2. nounA polite or humorous term for a person's buttocks.

Posterior in a sentence

• adjective

  The surgeon examined the posterior wall of the patient's heart.

• noun

  He slipped on the ice and landed squarely on his posterior.

• adjective

  Damage to the posterior part of the brain affected her vision.

• noun

  The cushion was designed to support the posterior during long flights.

Where does posterior come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes directly from the Latin posterior, the comparative form of posterus, an adjective meaning 'coming after' or 'following', which itself was built on the preposition post, meaning 'after' or 'behind'. The comparative ending -ior gave it the sense of 'further behind' or 'later', so the literal idea was 'more to the rear'. English adopted it in the 1500s, first in scholarly and anatomical writing where it described the back part of the body in contrast to the anterior or front. From that respectable medical use it slipped into a polite, slightly jokey noun for the buttocks. The same post root sits inside everyday relatives such as 'postpone' and 'posthumous', and remembering that post means 'after' helps fix the spelling, since the trap is the unstressed -erior ending that can drift toward -eria or -ierior.

How the word is built

• poster- (from Latin posterus: coming after, behind)
• -ior (comparative suffix: more)