Etymology

tofore

T1O1F4O1R1E1

Today it means: Before. Full definition →

Middle English tofore ← Old English tōforan
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Old English · inherited fromtōforan“in front of”
  2. Middle English · inherited fromtofore
  3. English todaytofore

From Middle English tofore, toforn, from Old English tōforan (“in front of”), from tō (“to”) + foran (“front, fore-part”, n.), dative case of fora (“front”). Compare Dutch tevoren (“previously”), German zuvor (“before, previously”). More at to, fore.

Words from the same roots

Old Englishtōforan all →

heretofore

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.