posztmortem

Posztmortem is a Hungarian noun borrowed from English postmortem, itself from Latin post mortem meaning "after death." In Hungarian, the term is used primarily to denote a retrospective examination or analysis conducted after an event to understand what happened, why, and how to prevent recurrence. In medical contexts, posztmortem can refer to a postmortem examination, more commonly termed boncolás (autopsy). In professional and technical contexts, posztmortem denotes a structured after-action review, often focusing on lessons learned rather than assigning blame.

Usage is common in information technology, aviation, healthcare, and journalism, where a posztmortem analysis or posztmortem report documents the incident timeline, affected services, root causes, and corrective actions. It is usually conducted after an incident or project completion to improve future performance. The preferred Hungarian alternatives for non-medical use are posztmortem vizsgálat, posztmortem elemzés, or utóértékelés; or simply "postmortem" in loanword form. The term is typically written as a single word in Hungarian, though hyphenated forms appear in some texts.