Etymologically
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outward

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈaʊt.wɚd/, /ˈaʊt.wəd/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English utward, later outward,[2] inherited from Old English ūtweard,[3][4][5][1] which merged with two other Old English words, ūteweard and the older ūtanweard.[3][2][6] All three were formed with the suffix -weard (“-ward”): ūtweard on ūt (“out”), ūteweard on ūte (“outside”) and ūtanweard on ūtan (“from outside”).[3][2][7] According to the OED, ūtanweard and ūteweard had already merged in sense by the time of the first records, while ūtweard mainly kept its original meaning of motion towards the outside until the three fully merged in Middle English.[3] Related forms are Old Frisian utward, Middle Dutch uutwaert, Old High German ūzwert and German auswärts.[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Situated on the outside, outer: early Old English, in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for 892;[3] Barnhart dates ūteweard to 893 and ūtanweard to before 725.[2] The sense of moving towards the outside is in Beowulf (line 761), where the fleeing monster is said to be útweard, heading out.[3][8]

Semantic evolution

In early Middle English the adjective was used of the body as opposed to the mind or soul, in the Ancrene Riwle (about 1225),[3][2] and since the late 14th century of what shows on the outside as opposed to what is felt within, as in the Wycliffite Bible (before 1382).[3][6] The theological phrase the outward man, the body as opposed to the spirit, is from Tyndale's Bible of 1526.[3][6] Other senses died out: "worldly, secular" (about 1390 to 1674, first in Chaucer) and "foreign, external to a country" (1427 to 1633),[3] which Johnson (1755) still defined as "foreign, not intestine".[9] From the late 16th century philosophers used it for the external, material world as opposed to the mind (1574), and since Bacon (1612) it described things external to a person's own character.[3] Outward bound, of a ship leaving its home port, is recorded from about 1600.[6] In northern English dialect outward meant wild or dissipated in conduct, as in Cumberland "a varra ootward life", said of an idle, drinking man;[10][3] in Roxburghshire it meant cold and distant.[10] The adverb was already Old English, and the sense "away from a place or position" is from the late 13th century.[6][2]

Timeline

  • before 725 – Old English ūtanweard.[2]
  • 892 – situated on the outside, in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.[3]
  • Old English – moving outwards, in Beowulf.[3][8]
  • c. 1225 – of the body as opposed to the mind or soul.[3]
  • before 1382 – shown on the outside, apparent.[3]
  • c. 1390 – worldly, secular (obsolete by 1674).[3]
  • 1427 – foreign (obsolete by 1633).[3]
  • 1526 – the outward man, in Tyndale's Bible.[3][6]
  • 1574 – of the external, material world.[3]
  • c. 1600 – outward bound.[6]
  • 1875 – northern dialect, wild, dissipated.[3][10]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Moving or directed towards the outside or away from a centre; of a journey or a ship, leaving for a destination away from home: the outward voyage.[11][7][3]
  2. Situated on the outside; outer or exterior.[7][3]
  3. Apparent or visible, as opposed to what is felt inside; superficial: Despite her outward calm, she was furious.[11][3]
  4. Relating to the body or the material world, as opposed to the mind or spirit.[11][3]
  5. the outward man: the body as opposed to the soul; humorously, a person's clothing.[11][3]
  6. (obsolete, 1427–1633) Foreign; external to a country.[3][9]
  7. (northern England, dialect) Wild or dissipated in conduct.[3][10]

Adverb

  1. Towards the outside; away from a centre or starting point; also outwards: The suburbs spread outward from the old town.[11][7]
  2. Of a ship, away from port.[11]
  3. (obsolete) On the outside; externally.[7][12]

Noun

  1. Outward form or appearance; the outside.[7][11]

Word family

  • outwardness
  • outwardly
  • outwards
  • outward-looking
  • outward bound

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  9. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  10. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  12. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press