an·te·ced·ent
noun/ˌæntɪˈsiːdnt/
/ˌæntɪˈsiːdnt/
- [countable] (formal) a thing or an event that exists or comes before another, and may have influenced it
前事；前情 - antecedents[plural] (formal) the people in somebody’s family who lived a long time ago
祖先；先人 - [countable] (grammar) a word or phrase to which the following word, especially a pronoun, refers
先行词；先行语 - In ‘He grabbed the ball and threw it in the air’, ‘ball’ is the antecedent of ‘it’.
在 He grabbed the ball and threw it in the air 一句中，ball 是 it 的先行词。
- In ‘He grabbed the ball and threw it in the air’, ‘ball’ is the antecedent of ‘it’.
Word Originlate Middle English: from Old French or from Latin antecedent- ‘going before’, from antecedere, from ante ‘before’ + cedere ‘go’.