avant la lettre
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Describing something that existed before it was formally named or recognized
mô tả thứ gì đó tồn tại trước khi nó được đặt tên hoặc công nhận chính thức
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Examples
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “avant la lettre” mean?
Describing something that existed before it was formally named or recognized Literally: before the letter
Is “avant la lettre” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.