precursor

• enPR: prĭ-kûr′sər, prē′kûr′sər^[1]
• (Received Pronunciation, General Australian) IPA^(key): /pɹɪˈkɜː.sə/, /ˈpɹiːˌkɜː.sə/

  Audio (Southern England):

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  Audio (Brisbane):

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• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /pɹɪˈkɜɹ.səɹ/, /ˈpɹiˌkɜɹ.səɹ/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /pɹəˈkøː.sɐ/, /ˈpɹiːˌkøː.sɐ/
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /pɹɪˈkʌɹ.səɹ/, /ˈpɹiˌkʌɹ.səɹ/
• Rhymes: -ɜːsə, -iːkɜːsə
• Hyphenation: pre‧cur‧sor^[1]

Inherited from Middle English precursour, from Middle French precurseur or its etymon Latin praecursor (“forerunner”).^[1] By surface analysis, precurse +‎ -or.

• (obsolete) præcursor

precursor (plural precursors)

2. That which precurses: a forerunner, predecessor, or indicator of approaching events.
   • 2013 September-October, Katie L. Burke, “In the News”, in American Scientist:

     Oxygen levels on Earth skyrocketed 2.4 billion years ago, when cyanobacteria evolved photosynthesis: […] . The evolutionary precursor of photosynthesis is still under debate, and a new study sheds light. The critical component of the photosynthetic system is the “water-oxidizing complex”, made up of manganese atoms and a calcium atom.

4. (chemistry) One of the compounds that participates in the chemical reaction that produces another compound.

From pre- + cursor.

precursor (not comparable)

1. (telecommunications, of intersymbol interference) Caused by the following symbol.

   Antonym: postcursor

• ISI

• “precursor”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “precursor”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• Intersymbol interference on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• procurers

Borrowed from Latin praecursōrem.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [pɾə.kurˈso]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [pɾe.kuɾˈsoɾ]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: pre‧cur‧sor

precursor (feminine precursora, masculine plural precursors, feminine plural precursores)

1. precursory (relating to events that will follow)

precursor m (plural precursors, feminine precursora, feminine plural precursores)

1. precursor (forerunner, predecessor)

• “precursor”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “precursor”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “precursor” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “precursor”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

Borrowed from Latin praecursor.

• IPA^(key): /preːˈkʏr.sɔr/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʏrsɔr
• Hyphenation: pre‧cur‧sor

precursor m (plural precursors or precursoren, diminutive precursortje n)

1. precursor (forerunner, predecessor)

   Synonym: voorloper

2. (chemistry) precursor (chemical compound)

• → Indonesian: prekursor

• “precursor” in Woordenlijst Nederlandse Taal – Officiële Spelling, Nederlandse Taalunie. [the official spelling word list for the Dutch language]

• Audio (Béarn):

  (file)

precursor m (plural precursors, feminine precursora, feminine plural precursoras)

1. precursor (forerunner, predecessor)

• Diccionari General de la Lenga Occitana‎^[1], L’Academia occitana – Consistòri del Gai Saber, 2008-2025, page 552

Borrowed from Latin praecursōrem.

• Hyphenation: pre‧cur‧sôr

precursor m (plural precursores, feminine precursora, feminine plural precursoras)

1. precursor (forerunner, predecessor)
2. (chemistry) precursor (chemical compound)

• cursor

precursor (feminine precursora, masculine plural precursores, feminine plural precursoras)

1. precursory (relating to events that will follow)

• “precursor”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “precursor”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Borrowed from French précurseur.

• IPA^(key): /pre.kurˈsor/
• Rhymes: -or
• Hyphenation: pre‧cur‧sor

precursor m (plural precursori, feminine equivalent precursoare)

1. precursor (forerunner, predecessor)

• “precursor”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2026

Borrowed from Latin praecursōrem.

• IPA^(key): /pɾekuɾˈsoɾ/ [pɾe.kuɾˈsoɾ]
• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: pre‧cur‧sor

precursor (feminine precursora, masculine plural precursores, feminine plural precursoras)

1. precursory (relating to events that will follow)

precursor m (plural precursores, feminine precursora, feminine plural precursoras)

1. precursor (forerunner, predecessor)
2. (chemistry) precursor (chemical compound)

• “precursor”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025
• Seco, Manuel; Andrés, Olimpia; Ramos, Gabino (2023), “precursor”, in Diccionario del español actual (in Spanish), third digital edition, Fundación BBVA