latter

See also: łatter

English

Etymology

From Old English lætra, comparative form of læt (“late”). Doublet of later; also, cognate with last, whose doublet is latest.

Pronunciation

• (non-rhotic) enPR: lăt'ə(r), IPA^(key): /ˈlæt.ə(ɹ)/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈlæt.əɹ/, [ˈlæɾ.ɚ]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Homophone: ladder (in accents with flapping)
• Rhymes: -ætə(ɹ)

Adjective

latter (not comparable)

1. Relating to or being the second of two items.
   • March 2017, Jennifer S. Holland, “For These Monkeys, It’s a Fight for Survival.”, in National Geographic‎^[1]:

     On sale next to dried fish and chicken feet were rats and bats (the latter's wings in a pile like leather scraps, also for sale), plus cut-up pigs and monkeys, their faces intact.

   • 1725, Isaac Watts, Logick: Or, The Right Use of Reason in the Enquiry after Truth, […], 2nd edition, London: […] John Clark and Richard Hett, […], Emanuel Matthews, […], and Richard Ford, […], published 1726, →OCLC:

     the difference between reason and revelation, and in what sense the latter is superior

2. Near (or nearer) to the end.
3. In the past, but close (or closer) to the present time.
   • 1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC:

     Hath not navigation discovered in these latter ages, whole nations at the bay of Soldania […] ?

Antonyms

• former

 

Derived terms

• at latter Lammas
• latter end
• lattermost

 

Related terms

• last (the superlative form of “latter”)
• latter-day
• latterly
• lattermath

 

Translations

relating to or being the second of two items

• Bulgarian: на второ място (na vtoro mjasto)
• Catalan: segon (ca), ponent (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 後者／后者 (zh) (hòuzhě)

• Dutch: laatstgenoemd (nl)
• Esperanto: ĉi-lasta (eo)
• Faroese: seinni
• Finnish: jälkimmäinen (fi), jäljempi
• French: dernier (fr) (usually preceded by the determiner ce)
• German: letzterer (de), zweiter (de)
• Hungarian: utóbbi (hu), második (hu)
• Italian: secondo (it) m, quest'ultimo
• Japanese: 後者 (ja) (こうしゃ, kōsha)
• Korean: 후자 (ko) (huja)
• Norn: ettri
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: sistnevnt

  Nynorsk: sistnemnd

• Occitan: aiceste, este, aqueste (oc)
• Persian: دومی (fa) (dovvomi)
• Polish: drugi (pl) (z dwóch)
• Portuguese: segundo (pt), último (pt), este (pt)
• Russian: второ́й (ru) (vtorój)
• Spanish: segundo (es) m, éste (es) m, ésta (es) f
• Swedish: sistnämnda (sv), andra (sv), senare (sv)
• Vietnamese: sau (vi), thứ hai (vi), thứ nhì

near (or nearer) to the end

• Dutch: laatste (nl)
• Finnish: jäljempi
• French: dernier (fr) (usually preceded by the determiner ce)
• German: letztere (de)
• Hungarian: későbbi (hu), hátrébb lévő
• Maori: mātāmuri
• Norwegian: sist (no)
• Polish: późniejszy, końcowy (pl), ostatni (pl) m
• Russian: после́дний (ru) (poslédnij)
• Spanish: último (es) m, este último m, esta última f
• Vietnamese: sau cùng (vi)

close (or closer) to the present time

• Bulgarian: неотдавнашен (bg) (neotdavnašen)
• Dutch: jongstleden (nl), dichtsbijzijnde
• Finnish: myöhempi (fi)
• French: dernier (fr)
• German: letzter (de)
• Hungarian: utóbbi (hu), újabb (hu)
• Polish: ostatni (pl) m
• Russian: после́дний (ru) (poslédnij), более поздний (bóleje pózdnij)
• Spanish: último (es)
• Vietnamese: gần đây (vi), mới đây (vi)

Anagrams

• Tatler, rattle

Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse hlátr, from Proto-Germanic *hlahtraz (“laughter”), cognate with Norwegian lått, English laughter and German Gelächter. Derived from the verb *hlahjaną (“to laugh”), cf. Danish le, English laugh, German lachen.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈlad̥ɐ]

Noun

latter c (singular definite latteren, not used in plural form)

1. laughter

Declension

Declension of latter

common gender	Singular
	indefinite	definite
nominative	latter	latteren
genitive	latters	latterens

French

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

latter

1. to lath

Conjugation

Conjugation of latter (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	latter
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	lattant /la.tɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		latté /la.te/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	latte /lat/	lattes /lat/	latte /lat/	lattons /la.tɔ̃/	lattez /la.te/	lattent /lat/
	imperfect	lattais /la.tɛ/	lattais /la.tɛ/	lattait /la.tɛ/	lattions /la.tjɔ̃/	lattiez /la.tje/	lattaient /la.tɛ/
	past historic2	lattai /la.te/	lattas /la.ta/	latta /la.ta/	lattâmes /la.tam/	lattâtes /la.tat/	lattèrent /la.tɛʁ/
	future	latterai /la.tʁe/	latteras /la.tʁa/	lattera /la.tʁa/	latterons /la.tʁɔ̃/	latterez /la.tʁe/	latteront /la.tʁɔ̃/
	conditional	latterais /la.tʁɛ/	latterais /la.tʁɛ/	latterait /la.tʁɛ/	latterions /la.tə.ʁjɔ̃/	latteriez /la.tə.ʁje/	latteraient /la.tʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	latte /lat/	lattes /lat/	latte /lat/	lattions /la.tjɔ̃/	lattiez /la.tje/	lattent /lat/
	imperfect2	lattasse /la.tas/	lattasses /la.tas/	lattât /la.ta/	lattassions /la.ta.sjɔ̃/	lattassiez /la.ta.sje/	lattassent /la.tas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	latte /lat/	—	lattons /la.tɔ̃/	lattez /la.te/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Further reading

• “latter”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Norman

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Verb

latter

1. (Jersey) to beat, spank, cane

Synonyms

• (to cane): codrer, donner la tchêne, vrédîndgi, vrier

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse hlátr.

Noun

latter m (definite singular latteren) (uncountable)

1. laughter
2. laugh

   en god latter ― a good laugh

Synonyms

• lått (Nynorsk also)

Derived terms

• latterlig
• lattermild

 

References

• “latter” in The Bokmål Dictionary.