precursor

English

Alternative forms

• præcursor (chiefly obsolete)

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin praecursor (“forerunner”).

Pronunciation

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

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.

Related terms

• cursor

Derived terms

• precursory

Translations

forerunner, predecessor

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

  Mandarin: 先驅 (zh)

• Czech: předchůdce (cs) m
• Dutch: voorloper (nl) m
• French: précurseur (fr) m, précurseuse (fr) f
• Georgian: წინამორბედი (c̣inamorbedi)
• German: Vorläufer (de) m
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: πρόδρομος m (pródromos)

• Hungarian: előfutár (hu)
• Japanese: 前兆 (ja) (ぜんちょう, zenchō), 先駆者 (せんくしゃ, senkusha)
• Korean: 선구자 (ko) (seon'guja)
• 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, föregångare (sv) c
• Turkish: öncül (tr)
• Ukrainian: попере́дник m (poperédnyk), попере́дниця f (poperédnycja), предте́ча (uk) m or f (predtéča)
• Zulu: imvula (zu) 9 or 10

chemical compound

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

  Mandarin: 前體 (zh), 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
• 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)
• Polish: prekursor (pl) m
• Portuguese: precursor (pt)
• Russian: предше́ственник (ru) m (predšéstvennik), реакти́в (ru) m (reaktív)
• Spanish: precursor

Adjective

precursor (not comparable)

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

Antonyms

• postcursor

See also

• ISI

References

• precursor at OneLook Dictionary Search
• “precursor” in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• Intersymbol interference on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• procurers

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Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin praecuror, praecursorem.

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, 2022
• “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.

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Dutch

Etymology

From Latin praecursor

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /preˈkʏrsɔr/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

precursor m (plural precursors, diminutive precursortje n)

1. precursor, forerunner

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Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin praecuror, praecursorem.

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 m (feminine singular precursora, masculine plural precursores, feminine plural precursoras, comparable)

1. precursory (pertaining to events that will follow)

Further reading

• “precursor” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.

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Romanian

Etymology

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

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Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin praecuror, praecursorem.

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