consequens

Consequens is a Latin term meaning "following" or "that which follows." It functions as a present participle of the deponent verb consequor, and as an adjective it describes something that follows or results from something else. In Latin grammar, consequens agrees with the noun it modifies and can be used substantively to denote "the following thing" or "the consequence."

In medieval and Renaissance logic and philosophy, consequens was used to designate the consequent in a conditional proposition—the second part of an if-then statement (for example, If A, then B; B is the consequens). The word is the ancestor of English terms such as consequent and consequence, which in modern usage refer to what follows from a prior condition or action.

Etymology traces consequens to the verb consequor, meaning "to follow," with the con- prefix reinforcing the sense of following after. The term illustrates how Latin vocabulary for logic and rhetoric has influenced widely used concepts in English.

See also: Consequence, Consequent, Consequential.