Antecedent (noun)

1. A thing or event preceding and in preparation for something else.
2. A noun, pronoun, or clause referred to by a pronoun in a sentence.

Origin:

Late middle english (denoting an ancestor): from latin antecedent- "going before", from antecedere "go before".

Examples:

1. The stock market crash was the antecedent to the Great Depression of the 1930s.
2. The antecedent of the pronoun 'it' in the sentence 'It is raining' is the noun 'rain'.
3. In linguistics, the antecedent of a pronoun is often referred to as the word or phrase to which the pronoun refers.
4. The antecedent of the pronoun 'she' in the sentence 'She is my sister' is the noun 'sister'.
5. The antecedent of the pronoun 'he' in the sentence 'He was a great leader' is the noun 'leader'.