Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “westward” come from?

Westward comes from Old English westweard, a compound of west and the directional suffix -weard meaning toward the west.

westward (English): Lying toward the west; Moving or oriented toward...

Definitions

  1. Lying toward the west; Moving or oriented toward...

Ancestry of “westward”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishwestwardwestward
2Old Englishwestweard—
3Old Englishwestwest
4Proto-West Germanic*westr—
5Proto-Germanicwestrąwest; west, westward
6Proto-Germanicwestrazwest, western
7Proto-Indo-Europeanwek(ʷ)sperosevening
8Proto-Indo-Europeanwe-—

Words derived from “westward”

  • westwardly
Every word from Proto-Indo-European we- →