What does 故～ mean?
故～ is a Japanese prefix meaning “deceased, late” in English. It is written as 故～ in kanji, こ～ in hiragana, and ko～ in romaji. This word is part of JLPT N1 vocabulary.
Example sentence
私たちは事故のため二時間遅れた。
We were held up for two hours on account of the accident.