Backside

How to spell backside

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce backside

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does backside mean?

1. nounAn informal word for a person's buttocks.
2. nounThe rear or hidden surface of an object or place.

Backside in a sentence

• He slipped on the ice and landed hard on his backside.

• The warranty details are printed on the backside of the receipt.

• Sitting on a wooden bench all morning left her backside aching.

• Weeds had taken over the backside of the garden fence.

Where does backside come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a straightforward native English compound, joining 'back' and 'side', both of which descend from Old English. 'Back' comes from the Old English 'baec', meaning the rear part of the body or of a thing, while 'side' comes from the Old English 'side', meaning a flank or edge. The two words were already in use long before they were yoked together, and the compound 'backside' is recorded from the late medieval period in the plain sense of the rear or hinder part of anything. The cheeky, informal meaning of the human buttocks grew out of that literal 'rear part' sense and became common in everyday speech. Because both halves are familiar everyday words, the spelling holds no Latin or Greek surprises; the only thing to watch is that it is written as one solid word, not as 'back side'.

How the word is built

• back (rear)
• side (face/surface), a transparent native compound