premortal

Premortal is an adjective indicating existence or occurrence before mortal life or death. It is used chiefly in religious and philosophical discourse to describe a state or moment preceding earthly birth or prior to a being's mortal condition. In most secular contexts, the term appears in discussions about the origins of consciousness or the soul rather than in day-to-day speech.

Etymology: from pre- (“before”) + mortal. The phrase premortal existence is especially associated with certain religious traditions that posit a pre-earth life of souls. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for example, premortal life refers to the belief that spirits lived with God before birth, with agency and purpose tied to mortal existence. Other traditions may adopt or reject this notion, reflecting a range of views on preexistence, incarnation, and the nature of the soul.

Outside religious contexts, premortal is rarely used beyond literary or doctrinal descriptions. In medical or legal language, related terms like premortem or pre-mortem are employed to describe events or evidence that occur before death, not to imply a pre-existence of the soul. Care should be taken to distinguish premortal metaphysical uses from literal pre-death time distinctions.