downward

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English dounward,^[2][3] partly a shortened form of adounward, inherited from Old English adūnweard (“downward”),^{[4][5][6][7][8]} and partly, especially in later use, formed anew from down and -ward.^[4][9][3] The older adverb was itself formed from adown and -ward,^[4] and was used from Old English until about 1425.^[4] Old English also had ofduneweardes, a parallel to downwards,^[9] which is Middle English dounwardes, formed with the adverbial genitive ending -es.^[3][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Both of the earliest senses are recorded about 1175: onwards in time, as in "from Moses downward", in a copy of a homily by Ælfric, and towards a lower place, with a descending motion, in the Ormulum.^[4] Etymonline dates the adverb to the late 12th century,^[9] and Dictionary.com to 1150–1200.^[8]

Semantic evolution

From about 1225 the adverb described position as well as movement, pointing or facing towards the ground,^[4] and in Gower (before 1393) it marked an area below a point, as in "from the knee downward".^[4] It also meant southwards, to a lower latitude, from Trevisa's translation of Higden (before 1387), a sense now rare;^[4] in Kent downward was said of a wind from the south.^[10] Before 1400, in the Cursor Mundi, it began to mean towards a lower rank or a worse condition,^[4] and Fortescue (before 1475) used it of every member of a hierarchy, from the highest down.^[4] Chaucer used the word thirteen times, once as a preposition, "down along";^[11][2] the preposition is now obsolete.^[4] The adjective came later: about 1390 in the figurative sense "leading to a worse condition",^[4] and in 1552, in Huloet's dictionary, for physical descent.^[4][3][9] An adjectival sense "lying below, lower", which Johnson illustrated from Dryden, died out in the early 19th century.^[4][12][6]

Timeline

• c. 1175 – onwards in time; towards a lower place.^[4]
• c. 1225 – facing or pointing towards the ground.^[4]
• before 1387 – southwards (now rare).^[4]
• before 1393 – of an area below a point, as in from the knee downward.^[4]
• before 1400 – towards a lower rank or worse condition.^[4]
• c. 1390 – adjective, leading to a worse condition.^[4]
• before 1413 – preposition, down along (obsolete).^[4][2]
• 1552 – adjective, moving or directed towards a lower place.^[4][3]

Modern meaning

Adverb

1. From a higher to a lower place or position; downwards: The hawk circled downward into the valley.
2. To a lower amount, level or condition: The bank revised its growth forecast downward.
3. From an earlier time, or from a higher rank, onwards: everyone from the director downward.

Adjective

1. Moving, leading or directed towards a lower place or level; descending: a downward slope.
2. Leading towards a worse state: a downward spiral.

Word family

• downwardly
• downwards
• downwardness

Related words

• down
• adown
• -ward

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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)
3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
8. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ 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)
11. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.