aftermath

English

The aftermath of a storm and flood.

Etymology

From after- +‎ math (“a mowing”), from Old English mæþ (“a mowing”), from Proto-Germanic *madą, *maþō, *maþwō, *mēdō (“a mowing”), from Proto-Indo-European *(a)mē- (“to mow”). Cognate with Dutch made, mad (“area of ground cleared by a sickle”), German Mahd (“mowing”). Related to Old English māwan (“to mow”). See mow, meadow.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈæf.tɚˌmæθ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɑːf.təˌmɑːθ/

• Audio (US)

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Noun

aftermath (plural aftermaths)

1. (obsolete, agriculture) A second mowing; the grass which grows after the first crop of hay in the same season.
   • 1879, Robert Louis Stevenson: Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes:

     They were cutting aftermath on all sides, which gave the neighbourhood, this gusty autumn morning, an untimely smell of hay.

2. That which happens after, that which follows. Has a strongly negative connotation in most contexts, implying a preceding catastrophe.

   In contrast to most projections of the aftermath of nuclear war, in this there is no rioting or looting.

Related terms

• beforemath

Translations

second mowing

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: äpäre (fi)
• French: regain (fr) m

• German: Nachernte f
• Irish: athbharr m
• Russian: второ́й поко́с m (vtorój pokós)
• Slovene: otava f

that which happens after, that which follows

• Armenian: հետևանքներ (hetewankʿner), հետագա զարգացումներ (hetaga zargacʿumner)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 後果 (zh), 后果 (zh) (hòuguǒ), 結果 (zh), 结果 (zh) (jiéguǒ)

• Dutch: nasleep (nl) m
• Finnish: jälkivaikutus, jälkiseuraus, jälki (fi), jäljet (fi) pl
• French: séquelles (fr) f pl
• German: Nachwirkung (de) f, Folge (de) f
• Greek: συνέπεια (el) f (synépeia), επακόλουθο (el) n (epakóloutho)
• Hungarian: következmény (hu), utóhatás (hu)

• Irish: iarmhairt f, toradh (ga) m
• Italian: conseguenze (it) f, strascico (it) m
• Japanese: 直後
• Portuguese: resultado (pt) m, rescaldo (pt)
• Russian: после́дствие (ru) n (poslédstvije)
• Spanish: consecuencias (es) f pl, resultados (es) m pl
• Turkish: ardından, sonrasında
• Walloon: shuvance (wa) f

Anagrams

• hamfatter