| antecedent |
| Definition: The words in a text that a pronoun or some other grammatical entity refers back to. |
| Example: Bob didn't have a compass, so he had to ask for directions. (the pronoun he refers back to the antecedent Bob). |
| Etymology: The word derives from the Latin antecedere, go before (from ante, before + cedere, to yield). |
| OED: Its first OED citation in this sense is from 1393: "Adjectif and substantif Acordeþ in alle Kyndes — with his antecedent." (Langl. P. Pl. C. iv. 364) |
| Quotation:
"Despite the implications of the name, the antecedent can follow rather than precede: 'For his first pacific voyage, Cook had no chronometer.'"
(Source: Oxford Companion to the English Language s.v. antecedent) |