Etymology

latter

L1A1T1T1E1R1

Today it means: Near (or nearer) to the end. Full definition →

Middle English latter ← Old English lætra
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Old English · inherited fromlætra
  2. Middle English · inherited fromlatter
  3. English todaylatter

From Middle English latter, lattere, lattre, from Old English lætra, comparative form of læt (“late”). Equivalent to late + -er, thus a doublet of later; also, related to last, whose doublet is latest.

Words from the same roots

Old Englishlætra all →

laterlattermath

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.