posterior

English

Alternative forms

• posteriour (obsolete)

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin posterior (“that comes or follows after; later, latter”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pɒsˈtɪə.ɹi.ə/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /poʊˈstɪɹ.i.ɚ/, /pɑˈstɪɹ.i.ɚ/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪəɹiə(ɹ)

Adjective

posterior (comparative more posterior, superlative most posterior)

2. (anatomy) Nearer the rear or hind end; nearer the caudal end of the body in quadrupeds or the dorsal end in bipeds.

   Synonyms: back, hinder, rear

   Antonym: anterior

   1. (medicine) Relating to or denoting presentation of a fetus in which the rear or caudal end is nearest the cervix and emerges first at birth.
   2. (botany) Next to, or facing the main stem or axis.
3. (formal) Following in order or in time.

   Synonym: later

   Antonym: prior

Coordinate terms

• (human anatomy direction adjectives) anterior,‎ distal,‎ dorsal,‎ lateral,‎ medial,‎ posterior,‎ proximal,‎ ventral ^{(Category: en:Medicine) [edit]}
• (dentistry location adjectives) anterior,‎ apical,‎ apicocoronal,‎ axial,‎ buccal,‎ buccoapical,‎ buccocervical,‎ buccogingival,‎ buccolabial,‎ buccolingual,‎ bucco-occlusal,‎ buccopalatal,‎ cervical,‎ coronal,‎ coronoapical,‎ distal,‎ distoapical,‎ distobuccal,‎ distocervical,‎ distocoronal,‎ distofacial,‎ distogingival,‎ distoincisal,‎ distolingual,‎ disto-occlusal,‎ distoclusal,‎ distocclusal,‎ distopalatal,‎ facial,‎ gingival,‎ incisal,‎ incisocervical,‎ inferior,‎ labial,‎ lingual,‎ linguobuccal,‎ linguo-occlusal,‎ mandibular,‎ maxillary,‎ mesial,‎ mesioapical,‎ mesiobuccal,‎ mesiocervical,‎ mesiocoronal,‎ mesiodistal,‎ mesiofacial,‎ mesioincisal,‎ mesiogingival,‎ mesiolingual,‎ mesio-occlusal,‎ mesioclusal,‎ mesiocclusal,‎ mesiopalatal,‎ occlusal,‎ palatal,‎ posterior,‎ proximal,‎ superior,‎ vestibular ^{(Category: en:Dentistry) [edit]}

Derived terms

• anteroposterior
• apicoposterior
• centroposterior
• distoposterior
• dorsoposterior
• duplicitas posterior
• frontoposterior
• inferoposterior
• lateroposterior
• long posterior ciliary artery
• medioposterior
• mentoposterior
• mesioposterior
• midposterior
• nonposterior
• occipitoposterior
• posterior auricular artery
• posterior auricular muscle
• posterior cerebral artery
• posterior chamber
• posterior cingulate cortex
• posterior communicating artery
• posterior cricoarytenoid muscle
• posterior inferior cerebellar artery
• posterioristic
• posteriority
• posteriorize
• posteriorly
• posterior mal
• posterior malleolus
• posteriormost
• posterior naris
• posterior probability
• posterior scalene muscle
• posterior spinal artery
• posterior superior alveolar artery
• posterior triangle
• posteriorward
• postero-, posterio-
• proximoposterior
• sacroposterior
• short posterior ciliary artery
• sinistroposterior
• subposterior
• superoposterior
• ventroposterior

 

Related terms

• auricularis posterior
• post-

Translations

located towards the rear

• Arabic: خَلْفِيّ (ḵalfiyy)
• Belarusian: за́дні (zádni), ты́льны (týlʹny)
• Bulgarian: за́ден (bg) (záden)
• Catalan: posterior (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 後面的 / 后面的 (zh) (hòumiàn de), 尾部的 (zh) (wěibù de)

• Czech: zadní (cs)
• Dutch: achterkant (nl), rugzijde (nl)
• Finnish: perä-, perässä oleva, perällä oleva, perempi
• French: postérieur (fr)
• German: hinterer (de), Rück- (de)
• Greek: οπίσθιος (el) (opísthios)
• Italian: posteriore (it)
• Japanese: 後の (ja) (うしろの, ushiro no), 後方の (ja) (こうほうの, kōhō no)
• Korean: 후부의 (hubuui), 뒤의 (ko) (dwiui)
• Macedonian: заден (zaden)
• Polish: tylny (pl), zadni (pl)
• Portuguese: posterior (pt)
• Romanian: posterior (ro)
• Russian: за́дний (ru) (zádnij), ты́льный (ru) (týlʹnyj), хвостово́й (ru) (xvostovój)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: за̏дњӣ

  Roman: zȁdnjī (sh)

• Slovak: zadný (sk)
• Slovene: zadnji (sl)
• Spanish: trasero (es), posterior (es)
• Tagalog: hulihan
• Ukrainian: за́дній (zádnij), ти́льний (týlʹnyj)

following in order or time

• Bulgarian: по-къ́сен (po-kǎ́sen), сле́дващ (bg) (slédvašt)
• Catalan: posterior (ca)
• Dutch: later (nl), posterieur (nl)
• Esperanto: posta (eo)
• Finnish: jäljempi, jälkikäteinen
• French: postérieur (fr)
• German: später (de)
• Greek: μεταγενέστερος (el) (metagenésteros), ύστερος (el) (ýsteros)
• Italian: posteriore (it)
• Japanese: 後の (ja) (あとの, ato no), 劣後する (ja) (retsugo suru), 後れる (ja) (okureru)
• Occitan: posterior (oc)
• Portuguese: posterior (pt)
• Romanian: posterior (ro), ulterior (ro)
• Russian: после́дующий (ru) (poslédujuščij), поздне́йший (ru) (pozdnéjšij)
• Spanish: posterior (es)

Noun

posterior (plural posteriors)

1. (sometimes euphemistic, sometimes humorous) The posterior portions of the human body; especially, the buttocks.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:buttocks

   • 2023 December 27, Stephen Roberts, “Bradshaw's Britain: the way to Weymouth”, in RAIL, number 999, page 52:

     Stephen reigned from 1135-1154, that nasty period of our history dubbed 'The Anarchy', when forces loyal to Stephen contested the throne with those of Henry I's daughter Matilda, who by rights should have been queen. Stephen, her cousin, plonked his own posterior on the throne.

2. (mathematics) The probability that a hypothesis is true (calculated by Bayes' theorem).

   Synonym: posterior probability

   Antonyms: prior, prior probability

Translations

buttocks

• Bulgarian: задник (bg) m (zadnik)
• Czech: pozadí (cs) n
• Dutch: Achterste, achterwerk (nl)
• Esperanto: postaĵo
• Finnish: peräpää
• French: derrière (fr)
• German: Hintern (de) m
• Greek: πισινός (el) m (pisinós)
• Hungarian: far (hu)
• Maori: tou, miki, kumu, tāreperepe, kumu, miki, papaihore, remu, tou
• Romanian: fund (ro) n
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: стра̏жњица

  Roman: strȁžnjica (sh)

• Spanish: trasero (es) m

References

• “posterior”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “posterior”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Anagrams

• repositor, torporise

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin posteriōrem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [pus.tə.ɾiˈor]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [pos.tə.ɾiˈo]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [pos.te.ɾiˈoɾ]

Adjective

posterior m or f (masculine and feminine plural posteriors)

1. subsequent (following in order or in time)

   Antonym: anterior

2. posterior (located behind, or towards the rear of an object)

   Antonym: anterior

3. (phonetics, phonology) back

Derived terms

• posterioritat
• posteriorment
• quasiposterior

Further reading

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

Indonesian

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin posterior.

Adjective

posterior

1. (anatomy, medicine, dentistry) posterior

Coordinate terms

• (human anatomy direction adjectives) anterior,‎ distal,‎ dorsal,‎ lateral,‎ medial,‎ posterior,‎ proksimal,‎ ventral ^{(Category: id:Medicine) [edit]}
• (dentistry location adjectives) anterior,‎ apikal,‎ apikokoronal,‎ aksial,‎ bukal,‎ bukoapikal,‎ bukoservikal,‎ bukogingival,‎ bukolabial,‎ bukolingual,‎ bukooklusal,‎ bukopalatal,‎ servikal,‎ koronal,‎ koronoapikal,‎ distal,‎ distoapikal,‎ distobukal,‎ distoservikal,‎ distokoronal,‎ distofasial,‎ distogingival,‎ distoinsisal,‎ distolingual,‎ distooklusal,‎ distoklusal,‎ distopalatal,‎ fasial,‎ gingival,‎ insisal,‎ insisoservikal,‎ inferior,‎ labial,‎ lingual,‎ linguobukal,‎ linguooklusal,‎ mandibular,‎ maksilar,‎ mesial,‎ mesioapikal,‎ mesiobukal,‎ mesioservikal,‎ mesiokoronal,‎ mesiodistal,‎ mesiofasial,‎ mesioinsisal,‎ mesiogingival,‎ mesiolingual,‎ mesiooklusal,‎ mesioklusal,‎ mesiopalatal,‎ oklusal,‎ palatal,‎ posterior,‎ proksimal,‎ superior,‎ vestibular ^{(Category: id:Dentistry) [edit]}

Latin

Etymology

Comparative degree of posterus, from post.

Adjective

posterior (comparative, neuter posterius); third declension

1. comparative degree of posterus
   1. coming after, later; next, following (of time)

      Synonym: secundus

      1. the later of the two, (of persons) the younger
   2. further to the back, hinder, posterior (of space)
   3. later in position or order of mention, latter
   4. less important, secondary, inferior

      Synonym: secundus

Declension

Third-declension comparative adjective.

	singular			plural
	masc./fem.	neuter		masc./fem.	neuter
nominative	posterior	posterius		posteriōrēs	posteriōra
genitive	posteriōris			posteriōrum
dative	posteriōrī			posteriōribus
accusative	posteriōrem	posterius		posteriōrēs posteriōrīs	posteriōra
ablative	posteriōre posteriōrī			posteriōribus
vocative	posterior	posterius		posteriōrēs	posteriōra

Noun

posterior m (genitive posteriōris); third declension

1. (chiefly in the plural) later generations

Declension

Third-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	posterior	posteriōrēs
genitive	posteriōris	posteriōrum
dative	posteriōrī	posteriōribus
accusative	posteriōrem	posteriōrēs
ablative	posteriōre	posteriōribus
vocative	posterior	posteriōrēs

Related terms

• posteritās

Descendants

• → Catalan: posterior
• → English: posterior
• → French: postérieur
• → Galician: posterior
• → Italian: posteriore
• → Norwegian Bokmål: posterior, posteriori
• → Portuguese: posterior
• → Romanian: posterior
• → Spanish: posterior

References

• “posterior” on page 1554 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (2nd ed., 2012)

Further reading

• “posterior”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• posterior in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • later writers: scriptores aetate posteriores or inferiores
    

Portuguese

Etymology

From Latin posterior.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /pos.te.ɾiˈoʁ/ [pos.te.ɾɪˈoh], (faster pronunciation) /pos.teˈɾjoʁ/ [pos.teˈɾjoh]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /pos.te.ɾiˈoʁ/ [pos.te.ɾɪˈoh], (faster pronunciation) /pos.teˈɾjoʁ/ [pos.teˈɾjoh]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /pos.te.ɾiˈoɾ/ [pos.te.ɾɪˈoɾ], (faster pronunciation) /pos.teˈɾjoɾ/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /poʃ.te.ɾiˈoʁ/ [poʃ.te.ɾɪˈoχ], (faster pronunciation) /poʃ.teˈɾjoʁ/ [poʃ.teˈɾjoχ]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /pos.te.ɾiˈoɻ/ [pos.te.ɾɪˈoɻ], (faster pronunciation) /pos.teˈɾjoɻ/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /puʃ.tɨˈɾjoɾ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /puʃ.tɨˈɾjoɾ/
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /puʃ.tɨˈɾjo.ɾi/

• Hyphenation: pos‧te‧ri‧or

Adjective

posterior m or f (plural posteriores)

1. posterior (following in order or in time)

   Synonym: ulterior

2. posterior (located in the rear)

   Synonym: traseiro

3. (phonetics) back (produced in the back of the mouth)

   Synonym: traseiro

Derived terms

• posteriormente

Further reading

• “posterior”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2024

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French postérieur, from Latin posterior.

Adjective

posterior m or n (feminine singular posterioră, masculine plural posteriori, feminine and neuter plural posteriore)

1. posterior

Declension

		singular				plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine		masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	posterior		posterioră		posteriori	posteriore
	definite	posteriorul		posteriora		posteriorii	posteriorele
genitive- dative	indefinite	posterior		posteriore		posteriori	posteriore
	definite	posteriorului		posteriorei		posteriorilor	posteriorelor

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin posterior.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /posteˈɾjoɾ/ [pos.t̪eˈɾjoɾ]
• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: pos‧te‧rior

Adjective

posterior m or f (masculine and feminine plural posteriores)

1. posterior, later

   Antonym: anterior

Derived terms

• cámara posterior
• posterioridad
• posteriormente

 

Further reading

• “posterior”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10