Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Precursor |
PrecursorNoun1. A person who goes before or announces the coming of another. 2. An indication of the approach of something or someone. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "precursor" was first used: sometime around 1425. (references) |
Etymology: Precursor \Pre*cur"sor\, noun. [Latin expression praecursor, from praecurrere to run before; prae before currere to run. See Course.]. (Websters 1913) |
| Domain | Definition |
Chemistry | A substance from which another substance is formed esp. by natural processes (ethyl alcohol is the -- of acetic acid in the formation of vinegar). Source: European Union. (references) |
| Chemical compound which forms a first stage of chemical process and serving as substrate in its further stages. Source: European Union. (references) | |
Electrical Engineering | Any part, or all, of the starting material from which a single crystal is grown. This may be material which undergoes one or more chemical reactions prior to the actual crystal growth step. Source: European Union. (references) |
Environment | In photochemistry, a compound antecedent to a pollutant. For example, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and nitric oxides of nitrogen react in sunlight to form ozone or other photochemical oxidants. As such, VOCs and oxides of nitrogen are precursors. (references) |
Health | Something that precedes. In biological processes, a substance from which another, usually more active or mature substance is formed. In clinical medicine, a sign or symptom that heralds another. (references) |
Medicine | Any other radionuclide produced for radio-labelling of another substance prior to administration. Source: European Union. (references) |
Nuclear Energy & Physics | Any radioactive nuclide which precedes that nuclide in a decay chain. The term is often restricted to the immediately preceding nuclide. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
| PREXCO | English | Precursor export control(drugs)database | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
Synonyms: PrecursorSynonyms: forerunner (n), harbinger (n), herald (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Beginning | Noun: beginning, commencement, opening, outset, incipience, inception, inchoation; introduction; (precursor); alpha, initial; inauguration, debut, le premier pas, embarcation, rising of the curtain; maiden speech; outbreak, onset, brunt; initiative, move, first move; narrow end of the wedge, thin end of the wedge; fresh start, new departure. |
Omen | Noun: omen, portent, presage, prognostic, augury, auspice; sign; (indication); harbinger; (precursor); yule candle. |
Precedence | Antecedency; anteriority; (front); precursor; priority; precession; anteposition; epacme; preference. |
Precession | Noun: precession, leading, heading; precedence; priority; the lead, le pas; van; (front); precursor. |
Precursor | Noun: precursor, antecedent, precedent, predecessor; forerunner, vancourier, avant-coureur, pioneer, prodrome, prodromos, prodromus, outrider; leader, bellwether; herald, harbinger; foreboding; dawn; avant-courier, avant-garde, bellmare, forelooper, foreloper, stalking-horse, voorlooper, voortrekker. |
Prediction | Hold out expectation, raise expectation, excite expectation, excite hope; bid fair, promise, lead one to expect; be the precursor. |
Priority | Noun: priority, antecedence, anteriority, precedence, pre-existence; precession; precursor; the past; premises. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | ||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
High Tech |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | 1960's view of building of the Detroit Institute for Cancer Research which was the precursor of the Comprehensive Cancer Center of Metropolitan Detroit. Credit: Unknown photographer/artist. |  | In 1947 the children's hospital cancer research foundation in Boston was the precursor of Dana Farber Cancer Center. Credit: Unknown photographer/artist. |
 | 1) 1904 view of American Oncologic Hospital the first precursor of Fox Chase Cancer Center. 2) 1927 view of Institute for Cancer Research founded in 1927 at Lankenau Research Hospital. The two organizations joined in 1966 to become Fox Chase Cancer Center. Credit: Unknown photographer/artist. |  | Hook Echo - often a precursor of tornadic activity. Credit: National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL). |
 | J. Peress' 1-atm dive suit, Tritonia, explored the Lusitania wreck in 1935. Jim Jarrett was Peress's chief diver and made this dive to 312 feet. This suit was a precursor to the "Jim" suit, named for Jim Jarrett. Credit: National Undersea Research Program (NURP). |  | Brush and ink drawing of Mallards by Jay N. "Ding" Darling, a famous cartoonist and noted conservationist. The artist was chief of the Biological Survey, a precursor of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, from 1934 to 1936. "Ding" conceived the idea of using duck stamps to raise money for the purchase of wetlands. (Deceased) Return to the Federal Duck Stamp Office Home Page Visit the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Home. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man | Joyce, James | Then he is the precursor. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | It is also the precursor of epinephrine, thyroid hormones, and melanin. (references) | |
A useful precursor to long-term treatment of opioid addiction is detoxification. (references) | ||
Amyloid precursor protein (APP) -- the larger protein from which beta amyloid is formed. (references) | ||
Economic History | Qatar | Emir Hamad and his father reconciled in 1996. Since then, the Emir has announced his intention for Qatar to move toward democracy and has permitted a free and open press and municipal elections as a precursor to parliamentary elections expected to occur in 2003 or 2004. (references) |
Peru | Peru continues to arrest drug traffickers and seize drugs and precursor chemicals, destroy coca labs, disable clandestine airstrips, and prosecute officials involved in narcotics corruption. (references) | |
Tanzania | Rehabilitation of current port facilities and plans to extend these facilities will be the precursor to the free port. (references) | |
Political Economy | ECUADOR | Imports of psychotropic medicines and certain precursor chemicals used in narcotics processing require prior authorization from the National Drug Council (CONSEP). (references) |
Political Rights | China | However, many observers caution that the village election system is not necessarily a precursor for democracy at higher levels of Government, and village elections--as currently practiced--do not yet pose a counterweight to the implementation of unpopular central policies or the leading role of the Communist Party. (references) |
Trade | Costa Rica | Pharmaceuticals, drugs, cosmetics, and some chemical products, such as solvents and precursor chemicals used to produce narcotic drugs, require an import permit and registration in the Ministry of Health, which are valid for five years. (references) |
Women | Korea | Under the law, the Presidential Commission on Women's Affairs (the precursor of the existing Ministry of Gender Equality) was granted the authority to investigate sexual discrimination cases in the workplace. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Precursor" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Precursor" is used about 244 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 244 | 19,120 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "precursor": Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor ♦ be the precursor ♦ geophysical precursor ♦ key precursor ♦ lymphoid precursor ♦ precursor front ♦ precursor sweeping. Additional references. | |
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "precursor": superego-precursor. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "precursor"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | pararendës (outrider, predecessor), paraardhës (forefather, forerunner, predecessor, primogenitor, progenitor), shenjë paralajmëruese (harbinger, hint). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | نذير (foreboding, harbinger, harbor, harbour, portent, presage), سابقة في المنصب, رائد (frontier, major, pioneer, progenitor, prospector), بشير (augury, omen, portent, presage). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | предшественик (ancestor, forbear, forerunner, predecessor, progenitor), предвестник (forerunner, harbinger, messenger, portent, prognostic). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 前". (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | předchùdce (ancestor, antecedent, forerunner, predecessor). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | præcursor, peækursor (forerunner), forgængernuklid, forgænger. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | voorloper (jointer, jointing-plane, leg, pro-drug, spreader, spreading wire, trying-plane, try-plane). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Esperanto | antaŭvenanto, antaŭsigno (indication, omen, portent, presage, sign), antaŭiranto. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | پیشرو (Chief, Harbinger, Herald, Pathfinder, Progenitor, Trail, Van), منادی (Front, Harbinger, Herald), مادهمتشکله جسم جدید. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | siemen (germ, grain, pip, seed), esiaste, emänuklidi. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | promoteur (promotor), précurseur (primer), précurseur/prodrome. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Frisian | foarteken (indication, omen, portent, presage, sign), foargonger. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | vorläufer (forerunner, harbinger, parent, precursors, predecessor, progenitor), vorbote (forerunner, harbinger, Herald, presage). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | μητρικό νουκλίδιο, πρόδρομοσ (forerunner), πρόδρομος (anterograde, back rope), προάγγελοσ (forerunner, harbinger), προδρομικό υλικό. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | מבשר (forerunner, harbinger, portentous, precursory). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | előfutár (forerunner, herald). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | precursore (epoch making, foregoer, forerunner, harbinger, Herald, precursive, precursory), augurio (augury, greeting, indication, omen, portent, presage, sign, wish). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 前駆 (forerunner, leader, vanguard), 先駆 (forerunner, herald, outrider, pilot car, pioneer). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | ぜ"く (forerunner, leader, the whole body, vanguard), せ"く (forerunner, herald, outrider, pilot car, pioneer). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 구자. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | roie-roieder (forerunner), roie-haghter (forerunner). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | ecursorpray precursor (forerunner, harbinger, herald, pacemaker, pacesetter, pioneer, precursory, trail-blazer). (various references) prevestitor (augur, augural, foreboding, harbinger, ominous, portentous, premonitory, prophetic), precursor (forerunner, predecessor), vestitor (announcer, harbinger, Herald, messenger, proclaimer), înaintaş (forbear, foregoer, forerunner, tackle, trail blazer). (various references) предвестник (forerunner, harbinger). (various references) prethodnik. (various references) precursor (forerunner, harbinger, Herald, precursive, precursory), agüero (indication, omen, portent, presage, sign). (various references) föregångare (forerunner, progenitor). (various references) müjdeci (bearer of good tidings, forerunner, harbinger, Herald), haberci (courier, despatch rider, dispatch rider, forerunner, harbinger, Herald, messenger, reporter, runner, summoner), önceki görevli, öncü (advance, advance guard, advanced, apostle, avant garde, bannerbearer, high priest, initiator, pilot, pioneer, pole star, spearhead, trailblazer, vanguard). (various references) провісник (anticipator, forerunner, harbinger, nunciate, outrunner, predictor, prognostic, prognosticator, prophesier, warning), попередник (antecessor, forerunner, predecessor, progenitor). (various references) người báo trước, người đến báo trước, điềm báo trước người đảm nhiệm trước. (various references) rhagflaenydd (predecessor). (various references) tamax chi' (indication, omen, portent, presage, sign). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | ales, avis, omen. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "precursor": precursors, precursory. (additional references) | |
| |
"Precursor" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: percursor, precurser, precurson, precursored, precusor, precussor, presursor. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "precursor" (pronounced prēker"ser) |
| 4 | -k er" s er | cursor. |
| 3 | -er" s er | Mercer, purser, reverser, verser. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: procurers. | |
| Words within the letters "c-e-o-p-r-r-r-s-u" | |
-1 letter: procurer, procures. | |
-2 letters: courser, croupes, pourers, procure, recoups, repours, scourer, sprucer, spurrer. | |
-3 letters: cerous, copers, corers, corpse, corpus, coupes, course, crores, croupe, croups, crouse, cruors, curers, curser, cursor, errors, poseur, pourer, proser, purser, recoup, recurs, repour, repros, ropers, rouser, scorer, source, sourer, spruce, uprose. | |
-4 letters: ceros, coper, copes, copse, corer, cores, corps, corse, coupe. | |
| Words containing the letters "c-e-o-p-r-r-r-s-u" | |
+1 letter: corrupters, precursors, precursory. | |
+2 letters: reproducers. | |
+5 letters: hyperproducers. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)50 72 65 63 75 72 73 6F 72 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references).--. .-. . -.-. ..- .-. ... --- .-. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01010000 01110010 01100101 01100011 01110101 01110010 01110011 01101111 01110010 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)P r e c u r s o r |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0050 0072 0065 0063 0075 0072 0073 006F 0072 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)508471698784858184 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Fiction 8. Quotations: Non-fiction | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Expressions 11. Expressions: Internet 12. Translations: Modern | 13. Translations: Ancient 14. Abbreviations 15. Acronyms 16. Derivations | 17. Rhymes 18. Anagrams 19. Orthography 20. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
