antecedent

Adjective

• preceding in time or order

Noun

• the referent of an anaphor; a phrase or clause that is referred to by an anaphoric pronoun

• anything that precedes something similar in time
  • phrenology was an antecedent of modern neuroscience
    

• a preceding occurrence or cause or event

• someone from whom you are descended (but usually more remote than a grandparent)

Related words

• Synonyms: 
  forerunner , ancestor , ascendant , ascendent , root
• Antonyms: 
  subsequent , descendant , descendent