Etymologically
Log in

forth

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 02:50. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /fɔːθ/, US /fɔːrθ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English forth, inherited from Old English forþ (“forward, onward”),[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *furþa (“forward”),[2][4] also the source of Old Saxon forth, Dutch voort and German fort.[2][3] It goes back to Proto-Indo-European *per- (“forward”), through a form *pṛto-,[2][4][3] and is related to for, fore- and further.[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Onward in time, immediately afterwards and continuously: before 700.[5][3] The sense “onward from a point” is in an Old English charter of 847.[5]

Semantic evolution

As a preposition Old English forþ also meant “during”.[2] The sense “forwards”, as opposed to backwards, is now obsolete except in back and forth,[5][4] and “onwards” survives in general use mainly in and so forth, which was already in Old English.[4][2] Forward into view, as in bring forth, and away, abroad, remain literary.[4][6] Forthcoming is from 1531–32,[3] forthright from Old English forþriht,[4][3] and forthwith, at first “at the same time”, from the 14th century.[4]

Timeline

  • before 700 – onward in time.[5]
  • 847 – onward from a point.[5]
  • c. 1000 – forwards.[5]
  • 1531 – forthcoming.[3]

Modern meaning

Adverb

  1. (literary) Forward or onward in time, place or order: from that day forth.
  2. (literary) Out into view: bring forth.
  3. (literary) Away from a place; abroad.
  4. (in and so forth) And so on; et cetera.

Preposition

  1. (archaic) Out of; away from.

Word family

  • forthcoming
  • forthright
  • forthwith
  • fore

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin