Upwards

How to spell upwards

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce upwards

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does upwards mean?

1. adverbToward a higher place, level, or amount.

Upwards in a sentence

• The path climbed steadily upwards toward the ridge.

• House prices have been creeping upwards for several months.

Where does upwards come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word descends directly from Old English, where the adverb was formed from 'up' combined with the suffix '-weard', meaning 'turned toward' or 'in the direction of'. That same '-weard' element, which goes back to a Germanic root meaning 'to turn', survives across a whole family of direction words such as toward, backward, forward, and homeward. The final 's' is the old adverbial genitive ending, a leftover grammatical marker that once signalled an adverb of manner or direction; it is the same '-s' that distinguishes 'towards' from 'toward'. Because the '-ward' came from a notion of turning, 'upwards' literally pictured a person or thing turned to face up. English has carried the form along almost unchanged for over a thousand years, and the optional 's' is exactly why writers sometimes hesitate between 'upward' and 'upwards'.

How the word is built

• up (direction)
• -ward (toward, denoting direction)
• -s (adverbial genitive ending)