English
upward
Upward comes from Old English upweardes ‘upwards’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *upp.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*upp1‘up, upwards’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*upp1reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150up2
- Old Englishc. 450–1150upweard3‘turned upwards’
- Old Englishc. 450–1150upweardes4‘upwards’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1603–1606upward4
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Old English up
- 2 Wiktionary, Old English upweard
- 3 Wiktionary, Old English upweardes
- 4 Wiktionary, English upward
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of King Lear: “From the extremest upward of thy head.”.
Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*uppWiktionary, Old English up‘up, upwards’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*uppWiktionary, Old English upreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150upWiktionary, Old English upweard
- Old Englishc. 450–1150upweardWiktionary, Old English upweardes‘turned upwards’
- Old Englishc. 450–1150upweardesWiktionary, English upward‘upwards’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1603–1606upwardWiktionary, English upward. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of King Lear: “From the extremest upward of thy head.”
Formed from up + -ward
Proto-Germanic *upp ‘up’
Proto-West Germanic *upp
Old English upp
Middle English up ‘to a vertical axis’
English up
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *upó ‘up’
suggest, sub, sum, suspicion, hypo, subaltern, 9 more
through Proto-Germanic *ub ‘under’
through Proto-Germanic *upp ‘up, upwards’
through Proto-West Germanic *upp
Today it means
adv In a direction from lower to higher; toward a higher place; in a course toward the source or origin.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “upward”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Old English up, Old English upweard, Old English upweardes. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *upp / upward