-wards

See also: wards and -ward

English

Etymology

From Middle English -wardes, from Old English -weardes, a variant of -weard; equivalent to

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.

Pronunciation

(unstressed)
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /wədz/
- (General American) IPA^(key): /wɚdz/
(stressed, in the word "towards" only)
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /wɔːdz/
- (General American) IPA^(key): /wɔɹdz/

Suffix

-wards

Forming adjectives and adverbs denoting course or direction to, or motion or tendency toward, as in "backwards", "towards", etc.
- 1885, W[illiam] S[chwenck] Gilbert, Arthur Sullivan, composer, “The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu”, in […] The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu, London: Chappel & Co., […], →OCLC:
  (Katisha:) At once I go Mikado-wards!

Usage notes

The choice between -ward and -wards is individual or dialectal; both are widely used with adverbs, though -ward is heavily favoured for adjectives.
Adverbs ending in -wards (Anglo-Saxon -weardes) and some other adverbs, such as besides, betimes, since (earlier sithens), etc., originated as genitive forms used adverbially.

Derived terms

English terms suffixed with -wards

Related terms

-ward

Translations

forming adverbs

Dutch: -waarts (nl)
Finnish: -päin
German: -wärts (de)
Hebrew: ־ה (-a), ל־ (he) (l'-)
Latvian: -up (lv)
Yiddish: אַר־ (ar-)

forming adjectives

Dutch: -waarts (nl)

Anagrams

Sward, draws, sward

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