eastward

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English estward,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English ēastweard,^[3][4][5] formed from Old English ēast (“east”) + -weard (“-ward”).^[3][6][7][8] The OED compares Middle Dutch oostwaert and Middle Low German ōstwārt, and the Old English adjective and noun ēastanweard (“situated towards the east; the eastern part”), formed on ēastan.^[6] East goes back to Proto-Germanic *aust- (“east”), literally "towards the sunrise", from Proto-Indo-European *aus- (“to shine”), used especially of the dawn.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Towards the east: the adverb is recorded in Old English, in Ælfric and the translation of Orosius, and the adjective, situated in or directed towards the east, in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (the Parker manuscript, under the year 892).^[6][5] Dictionary.com dates the word to before 850,^[4] and Merriam-Webster to before the 12th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its meaning since Old English, used for direction and motion ("the army turned eastward into Frome-mouth", in the Chronicle for 998) and for position or extent.^[6][5] In Middle English estward was used of ships steering towards the east, as in the South English Legendary (about 1300),^[2] and Chaucer used it eight times.^[9] Etymonline dates the adjective to the mid-15th century, from the adverb,^[8] and the Shorter Oxford to late Middle English,^[7] although the OED records adjectival use in Old English.^[6] The noun, with the article, the eastward, the eastern part or direction, is first recorded before 1450 in Lovelich's History of the Holy Grail.^[6] The variant eastwards is an adverb only.^[10]

Timeline

• Old English – towards the east; in the east (adverb and adjective).^[6][5]
• c. 1300 – Middle English estward, of motion towards the east.^[2]
• before 1450 – noun, the eastward, the eastern part or direction.^[6]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Towards the east: The caravan travelled eastward for a week.^[3][10][6]

Adjective

1. Lying, facing or moving towards the east: the eastward slope of the ridge.^[3][10][6]

Noun

1. The eastern part or direction: They sailed to the eastward.^[3][10][6]

Word family

• eastwardly
• eastwards

Related words

• east
• westward
• northward
• southward
• toward

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 f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
10. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins