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precursor

UK/pɹɪˈkɜː.sə/US/pɹɪˈkɜɹ.səɹ/
nounC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #13,547 of 15,258mostly written

Other forms: precursors

A precursor is something that comes before and leads to another. A precursor to war, the precursor of the modern machine, a chemical precursor.

In chemistry it is exact and consequential, since precursor chemicals are controlled because of what they can be made into. Elsewhere it claims a line of descent, which is a stronger claim than merely coming first.

Definitions of precursor

  1. 1nounprecursorSomething that comes before and leads to another.C1

    “The abacus was a precursor of the modern calculator.”

precursor is a forerunner.

Where it comes from

Latin praecursor means a forerunner, from prae plus currere, to run.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *ḱers-

  2. Latin

    praecursor<t:forerunner>

  3. Middle French

    precurseur

  4. Middle English

    precursour

  5. English, today

    precursor

Middle English precursour, from Middle French precurseur or its etymon Latin praecursor. by surface analysis, precurse + -or.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

precursor in the wild

  • For example, a precursor mRNA (pre-mRNA) is a type of primary transcript that becomes a messenger RNA (mRNA) after processing.

    Primary transcript

  • Amyloid-beta precursor protein (APP) is an integral membrane protein expressed in many tissues and concentrated in the synapses of neurons.

    Amyloid-beta precursor protein

  • The name of the precursor for a protein is often prefixed by pro-.

    Protein precursor

  • Protein precursors are often used by an organism when the subsequent protein is potentially harmful, but needs to be available on short notice and/or in large quantities.

    Protein precursor

  • In biochemistry, the term "precursor" often refers more specifically to a chemical compound preceding another in a metabolic pathway, such as a protein precursor.

    Precursor (chemistry)

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.