-wards
suff.（后缀）

Variant of -ward
-ward的变体

-wards or -ward

suffix forming adverbs

indicating direction towards

⇒ a step backwards

⇒ to sail shorewards
Compare -ward

Origin

Old English -weardes towards

-wards

Word Origin

variant of -ward:

towards; afterwards.

Origin

Middle English; Old English -weardes, equivalent to -weard toward (see ward) + -es -s¹

Usage note

See -ward.

Related Word

-ward

-wardsan adverbial suffix indicating direction, as in onwards, seawards, backwards.

Also, Chiefly US, -ward. [Middle English -wardes; Old English -weardes, adverbial genitive of -weard -ward]

-wards

adjective suffix
⇨ see -ward I

adverb suffix
⇨ see -ward II

-wards

/wədz/

suffix

variant spelling of -WARD. 同-WARD.

-wards, suffixOE. -weardes, corresponds to OS., MLG. -wardes, Du. -waarts, OHG., MHG. -wartes, early mod.G. -warts, the ending of the neut. genit. sing. (used adverbially) of adjs. in OTeut. *-warđo-: see -ward. A parallel formation of identical function, the adverbial neut. genit. sing. of adjs. in OTeut. *-werþo- (ablaut var. of *-warđo-), is represented by Goth. -wairþis, OHG. -wertes, early mod.G. -werts, now written -wärts. The adverbial genitives of adjs. in *-warđo-, *-werþo- appear to have in early Teut. differed little if at all in sense from the advb. accusatives.1. In English the history of -wards as an advb. suffix is identical with that of -ward (see -ward 3 and 4); beside every adv. in -ward there has always existed (at least potentially) a parallel formation in -wards, and vice versa. The two forms are so nearly synonymous (the general sense of the advs. being ‘in the direction indicated by the first element of the compound’) that the choice between them is mostly determined by some notion of euphony in the particular context; some persons, apparently, have a fixed preference for the one or the other form. Sometimes, however, the difference in the form of the suffix corresponds to a difference in the shade of meaning conveyed, though it would not be possible to give any general rule that would be universally accepted. Where the meaning to be expressed includes the notion of manner as well as direction of movement, -wards is required, as in ‘to walk backwards’, ‘to write backwards’. In other instances the distinction seems to be that -wards is used when the adv. is meant to express a definite direction in contrast with other directions: thus we say ‘it is moving forwards if it is moving at all’, but ‘to come forward’, not ‘forwards’ (see further the note on forward adv.); so ‘to travel eastward’ expresses generally the notion of travelling in the direction of an eastern goal, ‘to travel eastwards’ implies that the direction is thought of as contrasted with other possible directions. Hence -wards seems to have an air of precision which has caused it to be avoided in poetical use.There appears to be no appreciable difference in meaning between the prepositions toward and towards; the latter is now, at least in British use, more common colloquially. The now obsolete prepositions fromward and fromwards appear to have been perfectly synonymous.2. In OE. the suffix -weardes, like -weard, was added to phrases containing the preps. tó and wið (see -ward 5). In the locutions to..ward(s, from..ward(s (the so-called tmesis of the prep.), the two forms of the suffix were formerly equally common, but -wards now survives only in dialects.3. Examples of to..wards. a. with proper name or n. without article or other defining word.c1374Chaucer Troylus i. 59 Yt is wel wist how þat Grekes stronge In armes with a þousand shippes went To Troye⁓wardes.c1430Contin. Brut 430 And tho the Kynge disposid hym to Godwardis.1560,c1645[see godwards].1622R. Hawkins Voy. S. Sea xxii. 53 Our other Shippes..having kept their direct course, and far to windwards and Sea-wards, could not heare the report.1650W. Brough Sacr. Princ. (1659) To Rdr. A 3, Using them [sc. Books]..as..Guides and Helps to Heaven-wards.1892M. C. F. Morris Yorksh. Folk-Talk 260 The addition of ‘wards’ to nouns as a suffix denoting direction is frequent in our folk-talk—as ‘ti Newton-wards’ or ‘fra Newton-wards’.b. with n. determined by definite article or otherwise.1415Earl of Cambridge in 43rd Rep. Dep. Kpr. Rec. 589 My wyttys arne not to ye world wardys so redy as yey werne.1565Sparke in Hakluyt Voy. (1589) 532 He marched to the townewards.c. with pers. pron.1387–8T. Usk Test. Love i. x. (Skeat) l. 121 If that Margarite denyeth now nat to suffre her vertues shyne to thee⁓wardes with spredinge bemes.Ibid. iii. viii. (Skeat) l. 148 Aungels blisse that to-him-wardes was coming.1399Langl. Rich. Redeles iii. 76 Þe nedy nestlingis..burnisched her beekis and bent to-him-wardis.c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) xxviii. 128 And, when þe Cristen men sawe þam com to þam wardes, þai ware riȝt ferde.1442T. Beckington Corr. (Rolls) II. 216 The continuancis of true obeissaunce unto us wards of our subgetts.1472Sir J. Paston in P. Lett. III. 58 Also I praye yow feele my Lady off Norfolks dysposicion to me wards.1574W. Bourne Regiment for Sea xiv. (1577) 42 If you remoue the transitory but a quarter the length of the transitory to youwards.1583Golding Calvin on Deut. cxx. 738 When God gathereth vs to him by death, wee cease not to liue still to himwardes.a1586Sidney Arcadia ii. v. §3 Ever concluding ech thing he did with his face to me-wards.1635J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Banish'd Virg. 20 Behaving my selfe unmanerly to-you-wards.Ibid. 169 The courteous inclination to me-wards, which to my good hap I discover in you.1648Herrick Hesper., Love me little 55 You say, to me-wards, your affection's strong; Pray love me little, so you love me long.4. Examples of from..wards.1548Vicary Anat. viii. (1888) 63 Two Latitudinales comming from the backe-wardes to the wombe.1574,1669[see sunwards 1].1612R. Churton Olde Thrift newly revived 76 The degrees of a Quadrant are likewise 90, from the Centre towards your right hand, hauing the Sines vpmost, & holding the Centre from you wards.1644Digby Nat. Bodies xxx. (1658) 322 The objects comming into the glasse by a superficies not parallel..but slooping, from the objectwards.1665[see tailwards].1678Moxon Mech. Exerc. iv. 64 Not letting the Plain [= plane] totter to, or from you-wards.5. Examples of nonce-words (advs.) f. n., proper name, or pers. pron. + -wards.1670T. Brooks London's Lament. 124 Yet the bent of their hearts will still be God-wards, Christ-wards, Heaven-wards, and Holiness-wards.1842Thackeray Fitz-Boodle's Prof. i, The nobles come peoplewards as the people..rise and mingle with the nobles.1842Browning Let. 13 July in F. G. Kenyon Robert Browning & Alfred Domett (1906) 39 Here is a slip just off you-wards and I write at night.1845Faber Lett. (1869) 229 Seventeen persons strikingly converted..some really being led in extraordinary ways, and perfectionwards.1850Thackeray Contrib. to Punch Wks. 1898 VI. 683 A third darling, with..eyes of hazel, lifts them up ceiling-wards.1866Trollope Claverings iii, Mr. Burton was not..an ambitious man. He had never soared Parliamentwards.1866H. H. Furness Let. 14 Nov. (1922) I. iii. 156 If you were anyone else than the dear.., kindly fellow that I knew & loved.., I should never dare to write this letter, my manifold sins of omission you-wards would palsy my hand and freeze my ink.1868Rep. Munit. War 60 The chief feature of the invention..consists in the contrivance adopted for preventing the escape of gas breech-wards.1878Huxley in Fortn. Rev. XXIII. 170 The theory of the motion of the blood returned once more to the strait road which leads truthwards.1887Pall Mall Gaz. 21 July 4/1 Russiawards the new line may be fire-fringed and fatal. Afghanwards it is no such thing.1893K. Grahame Pagan Ess. 145 Aunt Eliza's fowls—already strolling roostwards.1893D. C. Murray Time's Revenges I. vii. 129 He was growing downwards, brutewards.

-wards /wədz/ suffix. OE.

ORIGIN: Old English -weardes, corresp. to Old Saxon, Middle Low German -wardes, Old High German, Middle High German -wartes, the ending of the neut. genit. sing. (used adverbially) of adjectives with Germanic base meaning ‘turn’: see -ward.

1.Forming adverbs from nouns and adverbs with the sense ‘towards the place or direction specified’, or adjectives with the sense ‘turned or tending towards’, as backwards, eastwards, heavenwards, inwards, etc.

2.Forming adverbial phrases from nouns, pronouns, and adverbs following to with the sense ‘towards, the region towards or about’, as in to you-wards, etc. Now arch., literary, or dial.

3.Forming adverbial phrases from nouns, pronouns, and adverbs following from with the sense ‘away from’, as in from herwards etc. obsolete exc. dial.

NOTE Adjectives in sense 1 are now more usually formed from -ward. In general, -wards is preferred to -ward when a notion of manner as well as direction is implied (as in she can write backwards), or when a definite direction is being stated in contrast with other directions.

-wards

suffix forming adverbs. in the direction of _____; toward _____: Backwards = in the direction of or toward the back.

[Old English -weardes, adverbial suffix]

UsageSee -ward for usage note.

-wards
— see -ward

-wards

IPA: /wə(r)dz/

Suffix

Forming adverbs denoting course or direction to, or motion or tendency toward, as in "backwards", "towards", etc.

Etymology

From Old English -weardes, a variant of -weard; see -ward for more.

Usage notes

The choice between -ward and -wards is individual or dialectal; both are widely used.

Adverbs ending in -wards (Anglo-Saxon -weardes) and some other adverbs, such as besides, betimes, since Old English sithens, etc., originated as genitive forms used adverbially.

Derived terms

English words suffixed with -wards

Related terms

-ward

后缀：-wards [副词后缀]

表示“向...”、“朝...”

downwards 向下，朝下

upwards 向下，朝上

northwards 向北，朝上

southwards 向南，朝南

sunwards 向太阳

backwards 向后

outwards 向外

inwards 向内