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
- Lying toward the west; Moving or oriented toward...
Ancestry of “westward”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Middle English | westward | westward |
| 2 | Old English | westweard | westward, in the west |
| 3 | Old English | west | west |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | *westr | western, westernly |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | westrą | west; west, westward |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | westraz | west, western |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | wek(ʷ)speros | evening |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | we- | — |
Words derived from “westward”