posthumous
adjective
Did you know?
The etymology of the word posthumous tells a complex story. In Latin, posterus is an adjective meaning "coming after" (from post, meaning "after"). The comparative form of posterus is posterior, and its superlative form is postumus, which means, among other things, "last." Postumus had specific application in referring to the last of a man's children, which in some cases meant those born after he had died. Latin speakers incorrectly identified the -umus in this word with humus, meaning "dirt" or "earth" (suggesting the ground in which the unfortunate father now lay). The Latin spelling became posthumus, as if the word were formed from post and humus, and both the "h" and the suggestion of "after burial" or "after death" carried over into English.
Did you know?
Where does posthumous come from?
Readers who are looking for the origins of the word posthumous may be interested to know that it is an example of a folk etymology. A folk etymology involves the respelling or changing of an unfamiliar word (often one borrowed from another language) to make it resemble an unrelated but better-known word or words. The classic example in English is cockroach, which was formed by substituting the English words cock (the name of a bird) and roach (the name of a fish) for the similar-sounding but totally unrelated Spanish word for a bug, cucaracha.
Posthumous comes from the Latin posthumus, which is itself an alteration of postumus ("born after the father's death"). It is thought that the word humus (meaning "dirt, earth" in Latin) was substituted for -umus in the mistaken belief that the word's final element had something to do with the soil in a grave.
Examples of posthumous in a Sentence
Hugh McIntyre, Forbes.com, 7 June 2025
Essentially, Eve needed her visible source of vengeance à la John Wick’s murder of John’s cherished puppy, Daisy, which was a posthumous gift from his late wife.
—Brian Davids, HollywoodReporter, 6 June 2025
Jack Johnson President Trump granted a rare posthumous pardon to boxing’s first Black heavyweight champion on May 24, 2018, clearing Johnson’s name more than 100 years after what many see as his racist conviction.
—Kori Rumore, Chicago Tribune, 28 May 2025
That show’s touching send-off to both Lavin and her character feel like a reminder that a posthumous nomination would be atonement for the Emmys nominating her only once for Alice.
—Joe Reid, Vulture, 24 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for posthumous
Cite this Entry
“Posthumous.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/posthumous. Accessed 10 Jun. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
posthumous
adjective
Share