anterior vs initial

anterior

adj
  • Coming before or earlier in time or development, prior to, preceding. 

  • Pronounced with an obstruction located in front of the palato-alveolar region of the mouth, e.g. b, p, d, t. 

  • (of a part of a flower or leaf) Situated further away from the mainstem. 

  • Nearer the forward end, especially in the front of the body; nearer the head or forepart of an animal. 

initial

adj
  • Chronologically first, early; of or pertaining to the beginning, cause or origin. 

  • Spatially first, placed at the beginning, in the first position; especially said of the first letter of a word. 

noun
  • A distinguished initial letter of a chapter or section of a document. 

  • onset, part of a syllable that precedes the syllable nucleus in phonetics and phonology. 

  • The first letter of a word or a name. 

  • In plural, the first letter of each word of a person's full name considered as a unit. 

verb
  • To sign one's initial(s), as an abbreviated signature. 

How often have the words anterior and initial occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )