Etymograph

English

upwards

Upwards comes from Old English upweard ‘turned upwards’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *upp.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*upp1‘up, upwards’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*upp1reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150up2
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150upweard3‘turned upwards’
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150upweardes4
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500upwardes4
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1958upwards4

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Old English up
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Old English upweard
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Old English upweardes
  4. 4 Wiktionary, English upwards
  5. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1958, Diesel Railbus for British Railways: “The underframe also carries four bonded-rubber mountings, focused upwards…”.

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*uppWiktionary, Old English up‘up, upwards’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*uppWiktionary, Old English upreconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150upWiktionary, Old English upweard
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150upweardWiktionary, Old English upweardes‘turned upwards’
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150upweardesWiktionary, English upwards
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500upwardesWiktionary, English upwards
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1958upwardsWiktionary, English upwards. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1958, Diesel Railbus for British Railways: “The underframe also carries four bonded-rubber mountings, focused upwards…”

Formed from up + -wards

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’

above, oft, 1 more

through Proto-Germanic *upp ‘up, upwards’

opening, ope, 3 more

through Proto-West Germanic *upp

up, upper, 1 more

Today it means

adv Towards a (higher) position closer to the sky than the ground.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “upwards”; 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 / upwards

Shirt and support for this word