Thereafter

How to spell thereafter

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce thereafter

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does thereafter mean?

1. adverbAfter that point in time; subsequently.

Thereafter in a sentence

• The company posted record profits, and shortly thereafter the share price doubled.

• He signed the lease and lived in the flat for ten years thereafter.

Where does thereafter come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word is a native English compound, built from the Old English elements 'thaer', meaning 'in that place', and 'aefter', meaning 'following' or 'behind'. The 'there' element had already broadened in early English from a purely spatial sense ('in that place') to a temporal one ('at that point in time'), which is exactly the meaning it carries here. The fusion of the two parts into a single adverb meaning 'after that time' was well established by the medieval period, and it belongs to a small family of formal 'there-' adverbs such as therefore, thereby, thereupon, and therein. Because all of these stitch a transparent everyday word ('there') onto a second element, the spelling is logical: keep 'there' whole and add 'after' whole, with no letters lost at the join. The slightly archaic, official ring of thereafter is what keeps it alive today in legal documents, contracts, and formal narration.

How the word is built

• there (in that place/time)
• after (following)