Etymologically
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backward

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈbækwɚd/[1]
  • UK: /ˈbæk.wə(ɹ)d/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English bakward,[2][3][4] an aphetic form of abakward,[5][6][7][8] formed from Middle English abak + -ward, on the model of hindeward and foreward.[3] Abakward continues Old English on bæc (“backward, behind, at the back”), from bæc (“back”), and the suffix continues -weard (“toward”).[9][3] The word was later taken as formed directly from back and -ward.[5][7][10] The OED notes that abakward differed from aback in expressing direction rather than completed motion, as backward still partly differs from back.[5] The form backwards goes back to bakwardes.[2] Barnhart compares Old Frisian bekward.[3] Old English itself used the adverb bæcling.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the direction of one's back, or with the back foremost, as in walking or riding backward: before 1300, in the Cursor Mundi.[5][3] Etymonline dates it to about 1300.[9]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the adverb soon covered the direction one had come from (Chaucer, about 1374) and retreat (Wycliffe, 1382);[5] the idea of going back to a worse state was already present in abakward,[11] and the OED records the figurative use of backward from 1582.[5] Of time, toward the past, it is recorded from 1562.[5] As an adjective it is found in Middle English of retrograde motion in astronomy,[11] while Etymonline dates the adjective to the 1550s.[9] Figurative adjective senses followed in the late 16th century: perverse or unfavourable (until the mid 18th century), and reluctant or shy.[7] The sense "behind in progress", of late seasons or crops and of slow learners, is from the late 17th century (the 1690s in Etymonline);[7][9] Johnson (1755) gave "unwilling, averse" as its first sense.[12] Merriam-Webster also records it for regions and peoples regarded as underdeveloped, and for people holding outworn views.[2] To ring bells backward, from the lowest to the highest, was a signal of alarm about 1500.[9][13] Shakespeare used backward as a noun in the phrase "the dark backward … of time" (1610).[2] In dialects from Yorkshire to Oxfordshire the adjective meant unwilling, shy or slow.[14]

Timeline

  • before 1300 – adverb, with the back foremost, in the Cursor Mundi.[5][3]
  • c. 1374 – in the direction one has come from, in Chaucer.[5]
  • 1382 – in retreat, in Wycliffe.[5]
  • c. 1500 – ring bells backward, as an alarm.[9]
  • 1550s – adjective, in Etymonline.[9]
  • 1562 – toward the past.[5]
  • 1581 – backward and forward, to and fro.[5]
  • 1594 – verb, to put back, delay.[5]
  • 1610 – noun, the past, in Shakespeare.[2]
  • 1690s – behind in progress.[9]

Modern meaning

Adverb

  1. Toward the back or rear: He leaned backward to stretch his spine.
  2. With the back first: The car rolled backward down the slope.
  3. In the reverse direction or order: Try counting backward from fifty.
  4. Toward the past, or toward a worse state.
  5. backward and forward: to and fro.

Adjective

  1. Directed toward the back: a quick backward step.
  2. Done in the reverse way.
  3. Shy or reluctant; often in backward in coming forward.
  4. Behind others in development or progress, especially economically or socially.
  5. Slow to learn.
  6. (cricket) Of a fielding position, behind the line of the wicket, as in backward point.

Word family

  • backwardly
  • backwardness
  • unbackward
  • backwardation

Usage notes

The adverb may be spelled backward or backwards with no difference in meaning, but only backward is used as an adjective.[15] The AHD notes that -ward is more common in American English and -wards in British English, especially in edited prose.[16]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  11. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  13. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  14. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  15. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  16. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt