predecessor

Meaning

Noun

• One who precedes; one who has preceded another in any state, position, office, etc.; one whom another follows or comes after, in any office or position.
• A model or type of machinery or device which precedes the current one. Usually used to describe an earlier, outdated model.
• A vertex having a directed path to another vertex

Related

Similar words

• forerunner
• foreganger

Origin

• From Middle English predecessour, from Old French predecesseor ("forebear"), from Late Latin praedēcessor, from Latin prae- ("pre-") + Latin dēcessor ("retiring officer"), from Latin dēcēdō ("I retire, I die") (English decease).