Where does “afore” come from?
Afore comes from Old English onforan, a compound of on and foran meaning "before" or "in front of."
afore (English): Before; In the fore part of a ship; Before; in...
Definitions
- Before; In the fore part of a ship; Before; in...
Ancestry of “afore”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Middle English | afore | before; afore; before; afore: in advance of the... |
| 2 | Old English | onforan | before, in front of |
| 3 | Old English | on | on, in, at, among; from |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | ana | on |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | *an | — |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | ana | on, at; on, onto; ana |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | h₂en- | on, onto |
Words derived from “afore”