prealternate

Prealternate is a term used in several disciplines to denote something that occurs before an alternate form, state, or option. The precise meaning varies by field, and there is no single formal definition.

In linguistics, prealternate forms refer to underlying inputs to alternation rules. They represent the form prior to morphophonemic changes; however, the notion is theoretical and not standardized across languages.

In typography and font development, prealternate can describe the glyph appearing before an alternate substitution is applied in a font feature. This usage is informal and not defined in official OpenType specifications; in practice it helps differentiate the base glyph from its alternates seen after feature activation.

In botany and horticulture, prealternate may occasionally appear in discussions of growth stages or inflorescence development that precede alternate bearing cycles, but such usage is rare and not widely adopted.

Evidence and definitions are sparse; the term remains niche and context-dependent. See also alternate, alternation, allomorph, stylistic set, ligature.