Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “up” come from?

Up comes from Old English upp, from Proto-Germanic upp, from Proto-Germanic ub, from Proto-Indo-European upó, from the root h₃ewp-.

up (English): Away from the surface of the Earth or other...

Definitions

  1. Away from the surface of the Earth or other...

Ancestry of “up”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishup—
2Old Englishuppup; upstairs
3Proto-West Germanic*upp—

Words derived from “up”

  • backup
  • setup
  • upcoming
  • pickup
  • cleanup
  • uphill
  • buildup
  • breakup
  • upkeep
  • uplink
  • upstate
  • uppity
  • sunup
  • uptime
  • upping
  • upstroke
  • getup
  • matchup
  • layup
  • faceup
  • uppish
  • linkup
  • shakeup
  • mixup
Every word from Proto-West Germanic *upp →