Eggcorn Forum

“Foremost” derives from “formest,” the superlative of “forme.” “Forme” is an old way of saying and spelling what we now mean by “first” or “front.” Something that is foremost is the frontest, the firstest.

Originally the word was spelled and pronounced “formest,” reflecting its origins in the superlative of “forme,” but about the fifteenth century a new spelling, “foremost,” appeared. Some English speakers, it seems, thought that “formest” was a compound of “fore” and “most” rather than a superlative of “forme.” The spelling “formest” eventually dropped from the language and left the field to its eggcorned rival, “foremost” (“Former,” the comparative of “forme,” was also challenged by the eggcorn “foremore,” but in this case the eggcorn lost out.).

“Foremost,” then, is a hidden eggcorn for those who see “most” in the word. There is not much change in imagery, however, between “formest” and “foremost,” since “most” is a common way of expressing an English superlative.

“Foremost” is not alone in undergoing this transformation. Several old words that formed superlatives switched the “-est” to “most.” “Utmost,” “nethermost,” and “northmost,” for example, display the same switch. The “-most” words that entered English after the fifteenth century, however, words such as “northernmost,” “rearmost,” and “rightmost,” do not usually show traces of the “-est” spelling-they are probably genuine compounds with “most.”