Hindmost

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˈhaɪndmoʊst/

Definitions

1. Located at the farthest back part of a line or group, being behind all others
2. Occupying the most rearward spot in a sequence or collection, following every other element
3. Situated in the last place of a procession or arrangement, behind all preceding parts

Etymology: "Hindmost" is a superlative built on an old word for "behind," and its ending is a fossil of a superlative suffix that English has largely lost. The Old English form "hindema" meant "hinder" or "further back," and "hindemest," the superlative formed from it, meant "furthest back" or "last of all." Gothic had a close cousin, "hindumists," showing that the pattern goes back to the common Germanic ancestor of both languages. The "-most" ending is the surprising part. It is the same suffix found in "foremost," "utmost," and "inmost," and it once did the same job as "-est" in "hindest" or "last." English speakers kept piling superlative endings on top of one another, so "hindmost" carries two superlative markers in a sense, the old "-m-" of "hindema" and the later "-most." Because the base "hind" has nearly disappeared from modern English, outside words like "hindquarters," the word now looks like a simple compound of "hind" and "most," though its origin is older and more regular than that.

Synonyms: last, farthest, rearmost, backmost

Antonyms: first, foremost, leading, frontmost