Posterity
/pɒˈstɛrɪti/noun
Future generations or descendants.
Did you know?Posterity comes through Latin posteritas, tied to posterus, meaning “coming after,” so the word is literally about those who arrive after you in time.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*pos-
“after, behind”
Latin
Latin
posterus
“coming after, later, following”
Latin
Latin
posteritas
“the state of coming after; descendants, future generations”
14th Century
English
posterite / posterity
“descendants; succeeding generations”
Modern English
English
posterity
“future generations collectively”