transcription, транскрипция: [ fɔ:(r)rʌnə(r) ]
( forerunners)
If you describe a person or thing as the forerunner of someone or something similar, you mean they existed before them and either influenced their development or were a sign of what was going to happen.
...a machine which, in some respects, was the forerunner of the modern helicopter...
= precursor
N-COUNT : oft N of n