Word.ws English Dictionary

hysteron proteron

hysteron proteron noun: a figure of speech in which a phrase that should come last is put first; hysterology.

Noun

hysteron proteron (plural hysteron proterons)

  1. (rhetoric) A figure of speech in which a phrase that should come last is put first; hysterology.
    • "He is well and lives" is a hysteron proteron.
    Synonyms:
    hysterosis
  2. An inversion or reversal of the natural order of things.

hysteron proteron meaning in Tamil

hysteron proteron in Tamil

தலைதாள் மாற்றணி

Synonyms of hysteron proteron

Forms of hysteron proteron

pluralhysteron proterons

Origin of hysteron proteron

From Ancient Greek, from ὕστερον (hústeron, “latter, arriving late”) + πρότερον (próteron, “former, before”).

Words formed from hysteron proteron

  • hystero-proterize

Questions about hysteron proteron

What does hysteron proteron mean?
Hysteron proteron means a figure of speech in which a phrase that should come last is put first; hysterology.
What is hysteron proteron in Tamil?
Hysteron proteron in Tamil is தலைதாள் மாற்றணி. See Hysteron proteron meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is hysteron proteron?
Hysteron proteron is a noun.
What is the plural of hysteron proteron?
The plural of hysteron proteron is hysteron proterons.

Words near hysteron proteron in the dictionary

  1. hysteromyomas
  2. hysteromyomata
  3. hysteromyomectomies
  4. hysteromyomectomy
  5. hysteron
  6. hysteron proteron
  7. hysteron proterons
  8. hysteronotal
  9. hysterons
  10. hysteropathy
  11. hysteropexies

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hysteron proteron (page history and authors); hysteron proteron (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “hysteron proteron.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hysteron_proteron. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.