Back

How to spell back

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce back

What does back mean?

1. nounThe rear surface of the human body, or the rear part of any object.
2. adverbTowards an earlier place, position, or condition, or in return.
3. verbTo support a person, plan, or cause, often with money or agreement.

Back in a sentence

• noun

  Lifting the heavy box hurt his lower back.

• adverb

  Please call me back once the meeting ends.

• verb

  Several investors agreed to back the new venture.

• noun

  She pinned the note to the back of the door.

• adverb

  We drove back home after the long weekend.

• verb

  The whole team will back the manager's decision.

Where does back come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a native English word descending from the Old English bæc, which named the rear surface of the body, the part that runs from the neck down to the base of the spine. It belongs to a wider Germanic family, with close relatives once found in Old Saxon and Old Norse, all pointing to a shared ancestor meaning the hinder part of something. Over the centuries the bodily sense broadened so that 'back' came to mark the rear of almost any object, from a chair to a building. From there it slipped easily into use as an adverb meaning 'towards the rear' or 'in return', and then into a verb meaning to support or to move rearwards. The spelling has stayed pleasingly simple, with the hard final sound written as the familiar -ck cluster that English uses after a short vowel.

How the word is built

• back (a single Old English root, no prefix or suffix)