posthumous

adjective

post·​hu·​mous ˈpäs-chə-məs 

 also  -tə-,

-tyə-,

-thə-;

päst-ˈhyü-məs,

ˈpōst-,

-ˈyü- 

1

: born after the death of the father

2

: published after the death of the author

3

: following or occurring after death

posthumous fame

posthumousness noun

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.

Synonyms

• postmortem

Examples of posthumous in a Sentence

She received a posthumous award for her life of philanthropy.

the soldier was awarded a posthumous medal for valor

Recent Examples on the Web

These debuts give Payne his first posthumous hit on both charts. —Hugh McIntyre, Forbes, 3 Dec. 2024

Abrahams also has a posthumous credit on the upcoming sequel starring Liam Neeson. —David Matthews, New York Daily News, 26 Nov. 2024

Harrison’s cozy collage-and-pen illustrations warmly express the healing power of giving and gratitude in this posthumous work by McKissack, who died in 2017. —Jennifer Hubert Swan, New York Times, 25 Nov. 2024

In a posthumous triumph, U.K. hip-hop icon MF Doom makes his first-ever ARIA Albums Chart appearance. —Jessica Lynch, Billboard, 22 Nov. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Latin posthumus, alteration of postumus late-born, posthumous, from superlative of posterus coming after — more at posterior

First Known Use

1608, in the meaning defined at sense 2

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Kids Definition

posthumous

adjective

post·​hu·​mous ˈpäs-chə-məs 

1

: born after the death of the father

a posthumous son

2

: published after the death of the author

3

: following or occurring after one's death

posthumous fame

a posthumous award

posthumously adverb

Medical Definition

posthumous

adjective

post·​hu·​mous

ˈpäs-chə-məs also -t(y)ə-

1

: born after the death of the father

2

: following or occurring after death

posthumously adverb