Hind

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /haɪnd/

Definitions

1. Located at or toward the back or rear of something, especially an animal's body
2. Positioned at the rear or back part of an object or living creature, particularly in reference to the posterior section of an animal's anatomy
3. Situated towards the back section of something, often describing the rear aspects or body parts of animals

Etymology: The adjective "hind" meaning "rear" is a close relative of "hinder," "behind," and even the Latin "contra." Its ancestor, Old English "hindan," meant "at the rear, from behind," and it grew out of a Proto-Germanic form "hinder" meaning "behind, beyond." That Germanic word traces back to a prehistoric Indo-European root meaning something like "down, below, with, along," which also gave rise to the Latin "contra," meaning "against" or "in return." English speakers rarely notice the family resemblance, but "hind" and "contra" share a deep ancestry. The adjective also has a surprising sibling in a different sense. In Old English, the noun "hind" was a female deer, from a Proto-Germanic word that referred to the hornless creature, and the same form was later used for a farm servant. These are unrelated to the adjective, so the rear-of-the-body meaning and the deer meaning simply share a spelling by coincidence.

Synonyms: rear, back, posterior, behind, following

Antonyms: front, fore, leading