Backstory

How to spell backstory

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce backstory

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does backstory mean?

1. nounThe history and background events that lead up to the main story or to a person's present situation.

Backstory in a sentence

• The novelist spent two chapters filling in the hero's backstory.

• Every job applicant has a backstory that the interview tries to uncover.

Where does backstory come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a modern English compound, joining the everyday words 'back' and 'story'. The element 'back' descends from the Old English 'bæc', meaning the rear or hinder part, while 'story' comes through Old French 'estorie' from the Latin 'historia', meaning an account of events or inquiry. The compound 'backstory' arose in the twentieth century, particularly within screenwriting and fiction circles, to name the events that happened before the main narrative begins. It gained wide popularity from the 1980s and 1990s as film, television, and gaming culture spread the term into ordinary conversation. Because it is built transparently from two familiar words, the only real spelling question is whether to write it as one word, two words, or hyphenated; the closed single-word form is now standard.

How the word is built

• back (behind, prior)
• story (narrative)