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English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
Inherited from Middle English precursour, from Middle French precurseur or its etymon Latin praecursor (“forerunner”).[1] By surface analysis, precurse + -or.
Alternative forms
Noun
precursor (plural precursors)
- That which precurses: a forerunner, predecessor, or indicator of approaching events.
2013 September-October, Katie L. Burke, “In the News”, in American Scientist:Oxygen levels on Earth skyrocketed 2.4 billion years ago, when cyanobacteria evolved photosynthesis: […] . The evolutionary precursor of photosynthesis is still under debate, and a new study sheds light. The critical component of the photosynthetic system is the “water-oxidizing complex”, made up of manganese atoms and a calcium atom.
- (chemistry) One of the compounds that participates in the chemical reaction that produces another compound.
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
forerunner, predecessor
- Albanian: pris
- Bengali: অগ্রদূত (bn) (ogrodut)
- Bulgarian: предшественик (bg) m (predšestvenik), предвестник (bg) m (predvestnik)
- Catalan: precursor m, precursora f
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 先驅 / 先驱 (zh) (xiānqū)
- Czech: předchůdce (cs) m
- Dutch: precursor (nl) m, voorloper (nl) m
- Finnish: edeltäjä (fi), edelläkävijä (fi)
- French: précurseur (fr) m, précurseuse (fr) f
- Georgian: წინამორბედი (c̣inamorbedi)
- German: Vorläufer (de) m, Vorgänger (de) m, Wegbereiter (de) m, Vorbote (de) m, Anzeichen (de) n, Vorreiter (de) m, Präkursor (de) m, Amtsvorgänger (de) m
- Greek: please add this translation if you can
- Ancient Greek: πρόδρομος m (pródromos)
- Hungarian: előfutár (hu)
- Indonesian: please add this translation if you can
- Italian: please add this translation if you can
- Japanese: 前兆 (ja) (ぜんちょう, zenchō), 先駆者 (ja) (せんくしゃ, senkusha)
- Kazakh: ізашар (izašar)
- Korean: 선구자 (ko) (seon'guja)
- Kurdish:
- Northern Kurdish: pêşeng (ku) m or f, pêşrew (ku) m or f
- Macedonian: претходник m (prethodnik), предвесник m (predvesnik)
- Occitan: precursor m, precursora f
- Polish: prekursor (pl) m, prekursorka (pl) f
- Portuguese: precursor (pt) m, precursora f
- Romanian: precursor (ro) m, precursoare (ro) f
- Russian: предше́ственник (ru) m (predšéstvennik), предше́ственница (ru) f (predšéstvennica), предве́стник (ru) m (predvéstnik), предве́стница (ru) f (predvéstnica)
- Spanish: precursor (es) m
- Swedish: förelöpare (sv), föregångare (sv) c
- Tamil: முன்னோடி (ta) (muṉṉōṭi)
- Turkish: öncül (tr)
- Ukrainian: попере́дник m (poperédnyk), попере́дниця f (poperédnycja), предте́ча (uk) m or f (predtéča)
- Zulu: imvula (zu) class 9/10
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chemical compound
- Albanian: please add this translation if you can
- Bengali: please add this translation if you can
- Bulgarian: изходно вещество n (izhodno veštestvo)
- Catalan: precursor m
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 前體 / 前体 (zh) (qiántǐ)
- Czech: please add this translation if you can
- Dutch: precursor (nl) m
- Finnish: esiaste
- French: réactif (fr) m, précurseur (fr) m
- Georgian: please add this translation if you can
- German: Edukt (de) n, Vorläufer (de) m, Präkursor (de) m, Vorform f, Vorprodukt n, Vorläuferverbindung f, Vorläufersubstanz f, Vorstufe (de) f
- Greek: please add this translation if you can
- Ancient Greek: please add this translation if you can
- Hungarian: prekurzor
- Indonesian: prekursor (id)
- Italian: precursore (it)
- Japanese: 前駆物質 (ぜんくぶっしつ, zenku-busshitu), 前駆体 (ぜんくたい, zenku-tai)
- Kazakh: please add this translation if you can
- Korean: 전구체 (jeon'guche)
- Kurdish:
- Northern Kurdish: please add this translation if you can
- Macedonian: please add this translation if you can
- Occitan: please add this translation if you can
- Polish: prekursor (pl) m
- Portuguese: precursor (pt) m
- Romanian: please add this translation if you can
- Russian: предше́ственник (ru) m (predšéstvennik), реакти́в (ru) m (reaktív)
- Spanish: precursor (es) m
- Swedish: prekursor c
- Tamil: please add this translation if you can
- Turkish: please add this translation if you can
- Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can
- Zulu: please add this translation if you can
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Etymology 2
Proto-Indo-European *per- Proto-Indo-European *préh₂i? English precursor From pre- + cursor.
Adjective
precursor (not comparable)
- (telecommunications, of intersymbol interference) Caused by the following symbol.
- Antonym: postcursor
See also
References
Further reading
Anagrams
Catalan
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin praecursōrem.
Pronunciation
Adjective
precursor (feminine precursora, masculine plural precursors, feminine plural precursores)
- precursory (relating to events that will follow)
Noun
precursor m (plural precursors, feminine precursora, feminine plural precursores)
- precursor (forerunner, predecessor)
Further reading
- “precursor”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
- “precursor”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
- “precursor” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
- Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “precursor”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)
Dutch
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin praecursor.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /preːˈkʏr.sɔr/
- Rhymes: -ʏrsɔr
- Hyphenation: pre‧cur‧sor
Noun
precursor m (plural precursors or precursoren, diminutive precursortje n)
- precursor (forerunner, predecessor)
- Synonym: voorloper
- (chemistry) precursor (chemical compound)
Descendants
Further reading
- “precursor” in Woordenlijst Nederlandse Taal – Officiële Spelling, Nederlandse Taalunie. [the official spelling word list for the Dutch language]
Occitan
Pronunciation
Noun
precursor m (plural precursors, feminine precursora, feminine plural precursoras)
- precursor (forerunner, predecessor)
Further reading
- Diccionari General de la Lenga Occitana[1], L’Academia occitana – Consistòri del Gai Saber, 2008-2026, page 552
Portuguese
Etymology
Proto-Indo-European *per- Proto-Indo-European *préh₂i? Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥séti Proto-Indo-European *-tōr Portuguese precursor Learned borrowing from Latin praecursōrem.
Pronunciation
Noun
precursor m (plural precursores, feminine precursora, feminine plural precursoras)
- precursor (forerunner, predecessor)
- (chemistry) precursor (chemical compound)
Related terms
Adjective
precursor (feminine precursora, masculine plural precursores, feminine plural precursoras)
- precursory (relating to events that will follow)
Further reading
Romanian
Etymology
Borrowed from French précurseur.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /pre.kurˈsor/
- Rhymes: -or
- Hyphenation: pre‧cur‧sor
Noun
precursor m (plural precursori, feminine equivalent precursoare)
- precursor (forerunner, predecessor)
Declension
Further reading
Spanish
Etymology
Proto-Indo-European *per- Proto-Indo-European *préh₂i? Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥séti Proto-Indo-European *-tōr Spanish precursor Learned borrowing from Latin praecursōrem.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /pɾekuɾˈsoɾ/ [pɾe.kuɾˈsoɾ]
- Rhymes: -oɾ
- Syllabification: pre‧cur‧sor
Adjective
precursor (feminine precursora, masculine plural precursores, feminine plural precursoras)
- precursory (relating to events that will follow)
Noun
precursor m (plural precursores, feminine precursora, feminine plural precursoras)
- precursor (forerunner, predecessor)
- (chemistry) precursor (chemical compound)
Related terms
Further reading
- “precursor”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), 24th edition, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 30 October 2026
- Seco, Manuel; Andrés, Olimpia; Ramos, Gabino (2023), “precursor”, in Diccionario del español actual [Dictionary of Current Spanish] (in Spanish), third digital edition, Fundación BBVA
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