# future

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈfjuː.t͡ʃə(ɹ)/ · frequency rank #466

## Definitions
1. The time ahead; those moments yet to be experienced.
2. Something that will happen in moments yet to come.
3. Goodness in what is yet to come. Something to look forward to.
4. The likely prospects for or fate of someone or something in time to come.
5. Verb tense used to talk about events that will happen in the future; future tense.
6. Alternative form of futures.
7. An object that retrieves the value of a promise.
8. A minor-league prospect.

## Etymology
From Middle English future, futur, from Old French futur, from Latin futūrus, irregular future active participle of sum (“to be”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- (“to become, be”). Cognate with Old English bēo (“I become, I will be, I am”). More at be. Displaced native Old English tōweard, which took on a different meaning as toward, and Middle English afterhede (“future”, literally “afterhood”) in the given sense.

## Easily confused with
- **futures** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/future-vs-futures)
- **fugue** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fugue-vs-future)
- **figure** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/figure-vs-future)
- **futile** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/futile-vs-future)
- **feature** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/feature-vs-future)
- **fixture** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fixture-vs-future)

## Common misspellings (8)
`ffuture`, `ftuure`, `futrue`, `futture`, `futuer`, `futurre`, `fuutre`, `ufture`

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