foreword

Etymology

It is formed from English fore- + word,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} probably modelled on or translated from German Vorwort (“preface”),^{[5][6][7][8][3][4][9][10]} which was itself modelled on Latin praefātiō (“preface”).^[4][3] The OED only compares the German word.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A word said before something else, hence an introduction or preface: 1842, in G. W. Dasent's translation of the Prose or Younger Edda.^[2][3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

The word now usually means a short introduction written by someone other than the author of the book.^{[6][11][8][5]} It met with resistance as a Germanism: Weekley calls it a 19th-century neologism after German and quotes J. S. Phillimore, who called it a "stupid neologism" first used by "some Germanizing fool" and repeated by "a hundred light-hearted parrots".^[10]

Timeline

• 1842 – a word said beforehand; an introduction, a preface.^[2][3][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A short introduction or preface to a book, especially one written by someone other than the author: The novel's new edition has a foreword by the author's daughter.^{[11][8][6][5]}

Related words

• afterword
• forward
• fore-
• word

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt