preterite

pret·er·it

P p

Transcription

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- UK Pronunciation
- UK IPA
- [pret-er-it]
- /ˈprɛt ər ɪt/
- /ˈpre.tə.rɪt/

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- [pret-er-it]
- /ˈprɛt ər ɪt/

Definitions of preterite word

noun preterite past (def 12). 1
noun preterite a preterit tense. 1
noun preterite a verb form in this tense. 1
adjective preterite Grammar. noting a past action or state. 1
adjective preterite Archaic. bygone; past. 1
noun preterite a tense of verbs used to relate past action, formed in English by inflection of the verb, as jumped, swam 0

See all 8 definitions of preterite

Information block about the term

Origin of preterite

First appearance:

before 1300

One of the 15% oldest English words

1300-50; Middle English < Latin praeteritus past, past participle of praeterīre to go by, equivalent to praeter- preter- + -i-, base of īre to go + -tus past participle suffix; as tense name < Latin (tempus) praeteritum

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Preterite

noun

adjective

verb

adverb

pronoun

preposition

conjunction

determiner

exclamation

Full grammatical hierarchy of Preterite

preterite popularity

A pretty common term. Usually people know it’s meaning, but prefer to use a more spread out synonym. About 62% of English native speakers know the meaning and use word.

Most Europeans know this English word. The frequency of it’s usage is somewhere between "mom" and "screwdriver".

preterite usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer