# foremost

> English word · Adjective · IPA /ˈfɔː.məʊst/ · frequency rank #9,900

## Definitions
1. Positioned in front of (all) others in space, most forward.
2. Coming before (all) others in time.
3. Of the highest rank or position; of the greatest importance; of the highest priority.
4. Closest to the bow.

## Etymology
From Old English formest, fyrmest (“earliest, first, most prominent”), from Proto-Germanic *frumistaz, from the locative stem *fur-, *fr- + the superlative suffix *-umistaz, stem ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pr-. The suffix *-umistaz was a compound suffix, created from the rarer comparative suffix *-umô (as in Old English fruma) + the regular superlative suffix *-istaz (English -est); *-umô in turn is from Proto-Indo-European *-mHo-.
Cognate with Old Frisian formest, Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌿𐌼𐌹𐍃𐍄𐍃 (frumists). See for, first and Old English fruma for more. Partially cognate to primus, from Proto-Indo-European *pr- + Latin superlative suffix -imus, from Proto-Indo-European *-mHo-.
A comparative former was back-formed analogically, leaving the m from *-umô in place. Later the Old English suffix complex -(u)m-est was conflated with the word most through folk etymology, so that the word is now interpreted as fore + -most.

## Easily confused with
- **forest** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/foremost-vs-forest)
- **Fremont** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/foremost-vs-fremont)
- **Formosa** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/foremost-vs-formosa)
- **forecast** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/forecast-vs-foremost)

## Common misspellings (12)
`fforemost`, `foermost`, `foremmost`, `foremosst`, `foremostt`, `foremots`, `foremsot`, `foreomst`, `formeost`, `forremost`, `froemost`, `ofremost`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/foremost