Etymologically
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upward

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 24 October 2026 at 18:41. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈʌpwəd/[1]
  • US: /ˈʌpwɚd/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English upward,[2][3] inherited from Old English upweard (“up, upward, toward heaven”),[4][5][6][7] formed from ūp (“up”) and the suffix -weard (“-ward”).[5][3][8][4] Similar formations are Middle Low German upwart, Middle Dutch opwaert, Dutch opwaart and Middle High German ūfwert.[4][6][5] The form upwards goes back to Old English upweardes, with the adverbial genitive ending -es.[4][3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

As an adverb, to or towards a higher place, of movement through space, in Old English, in Cynewulf's Elene.[5][7] Old English also used it for "up into a country", as in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for 1013, when Swein went up the Trent,[7][5] and as an adjective, "turned upwards", of a person lying face up.[7]

Semantic evolution

A figurative use, towards a loftier stage or standard of thought, feeling or life, appears in the Ormulum about 1175.[5] The phrase and upward after ages and sizes, meaning "and more", is from the 1560s, and upward of, "more than", from the 1610s.[4][8] As an adjective, "directed towards a higher place", the word is in Old English but became current again from about 1600;[4][8] Johnson (1755) defined it so, quoting Dryden, and also listed an obsolete noun upward, the top.[9][3] In 1874 it was used of prices and values,[5] and upward mobility, movement to a higher social level, is recorded by 1942 but stayed mainly in sociologists' jargon until the 1960s.[4][5] In Kent upward was used of a wind from the north, and in Cornwall the noun meant England outside Cornwall.[10]

Timeline

  • Old English – adverb, to or towards a higher place.[5][7]
  • Old English – adjective, turned upwards.[7]
  • c. 1175 – figuratively, towards a higher standard.[5]
  • before 1300 – in or into a higher position.[5]
  • 1560s – and upward, and more (of ages, sizes).[4]
  • 1610s – upward of, more than.[4]
  • c. 1600 – adjective, directed towards a higher place.[4]
  • 1874 – higher in price or value.[5]
  • 1942 – upward mobility.[4]

Modern meaning

Adverb

  1. Towards a higher place, level or position: The balloon drifted upward over the fields.
  2. Towards a higher amount, rank or standard: Prices have moved steadily upward.
  3. upward of or upwards of: more than: upward of two hundred guests.

Adjective

  1. Moving or directed towards a higher point or level: an upward glance.
  2. Rising towards a better or higher state: an upward trend in sales.
  3. upward mobility: movement to a higher social or professional level.

Word family

  • upwardly
  • upwards
  • upwardness
  • upwards of
  • upward mobility

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  8. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  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)