precursor

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹiːˌkɜː.sə(ɹ)/, /pɹɪˈkɜː.sə(ɹ)/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

  • Audio (Brisbane (Australia)):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹiːˌkɜɹ.səɹ/, /pɹɪˈkɜɹ.səɹ/

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin praecursor (“forerunner”). See precurse, and refer to -or.

Alternative forms

• (obsolete) præcursor

Noun

precursor (plural precursors)

1. 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.

2. (chemistry) One of the compounds that participates in the chemical reaction that produces another compound.

Derived terms

• precursor tip
• precursory

Related terms

• cursor

Translations

forerunner, predecessor

• Albanian: pris
• Bengali: অগ্রদূত (bn) (ogrodut)
• Bulgarian: предшественик (bg) m (predšestvenik), предвестник (bg) m (predvestnik)
• Catalan: precursor m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 先驅／先驱 (zh) (xiānqū)

• Czech: předchůdce (cs) m
• Dutch: voorloper (nl) m
• 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:

  Ancient Greek: πρόδρομος m (pródromos)

• Hungarian: előfutár (hu)
• Japanese: 前兆 (ja) (ぜんちょう, zenchō), 先駆者 (ja) (せんくしゃ, senkusha)
• Kazakh: ізашар (ızaşar)
• Korean: 선구자 (ko) (seon'guja)
• Macedonian: претходник m (prethodnik), предвесник m (predvesnik)
• Polish: prekursor (pl) m, prekursorka (pl) f
• Portuguese: precursor (pt) m
• Russian: предше́ственник (ru) m (predšéstvennik), предше́ственница (ru) f (predšéstvennica), предве́стник (ru) m (predvéstnik), предве́стница (ru) f (predvéstnica)
• Spanish: precursor m
• Swedish: förelöpare (sv), föregångare (sv) c
• Turkish: öncül (tr)
• Ukrainian: попере́дник m (poperédnyk), попере́дниця f (poperédnycja), предте́ча (uk) m or f (predtéča)
• Zulu: imvula (zu) class 9/10

chemical compound

• Bulgarian: изходно вещество n (izhodno veštestvo)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 前體／前体 (zh) (qiántǐ)

• Dutch: precursor (nl) m
• Finnish: esiaste
• French: réactif (fr) m, précurseur (fr) m
• German: Edukt (de) n, Vorläufer (de) m, Präkursor (de) m, Vorform f, Vorprodukt n, Vorläuferverbindung f, Vorläufersubstanz f, Vorstufe (de) f
• Hungarian: prekurzor
• 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)
• Korean: 전구체 (jeon'guche)
• Polish: prekursor (pl) m
• Portuguese: precursor (pt)
• Russian: предше́ственник (ru) m (predšéstvennik), реакти́в (ru) m (reaktív)
• Spanish: precursor

Etymology 2

From pre- +‎ cursor.

Adjective

precursor (not comparable)

1. (telecommunications, of intersymbol interference) Caused by the following symbol.

   Antonym: postcursor

See also

• ISI

References

• “precursor”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “precursor”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• Intersymbol interference on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• procurers

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin praecursōrem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [pɾə.kurˈso]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [pɾe.kuɾˈsoɾ]

Adjective

precursor (feminine precursora, masculine plural precursors, feminine plural precursores)

1. precursory, preceding

Noun

precursor m (plural precursors, feminine precursora)

1. precursor

Further reading

• “precursor” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “precursor”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “precursor” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “precursor” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Dutch

Etymology

From Latin praecursor.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /preˈkʏrsɔr/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

precursor m (plural precursors, diminutive precursortje n)

1. precursor, forerunner

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin praecursōrem.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /pɾe.kuʁˈsoʁ/ [pɾe.kuhˈsoh]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /pɾe.kuʁˈsoʁ/ [pɾe.kuhˈsoh]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /pɾe.kuɾˈsoɾ/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /pɾe.kuʁˈsoʁ/ [pɾe.kuχˈsoχ]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /pɾe.kuɻˈsoɻ/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /pɾɨ.kuɾˈsoɾ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /pɾɨ.kuɾˈsoɾ/
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /pɾɨ.kuɾˈso.ɾi/

• Hyphenation: pre‧cur‧sor

Noun

precursor m (plural precursores, feminine precursora, feminine plural precursoras)

1. precursor; forerunner (something that led to the development of another)

Related terms

• cursor

Adjective

precursor (feminine precursora, masculine plural precursores, feminine plural precursoras)

1. precursory (pertaining to events that will follow)

Further reading

• “precursor” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French précurseur.

Noun

precursor m (plural precursori)

1. precursor

Declension

Declension of precursor

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) precursor	precursorul	(niște) precursori	precursorii
genitive/dative	(unui) precursor	precursorului	(unor) precursori	precursorilor
vocative	precursorule		precursorilor

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin praecursōrem.

Adjective

precursor (feminine precursora, masculine plural precursores, feminine plural precursoras)

1. precursory, preceding

Noun

precursor m (plural precursores, feminine precursora, feminine plural precursoras)

1. precursor, forerunner

Related terms

• cursor

 

Further reading

• “precursor”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014