Etymology

avant la lettre

Today it means: Before the term was coined (the term being a word or phrase used just previously in an anachronistic way) Full definition →

French avant la lettre
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The story

  1. French · borrowed fromavant la lettre
  2. English todayavant la lettre

Borrowed from French avant la lettre (literally “before the letter”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.