Etymology

afterwards

af·ter·wards
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Today it means: At a later or succeeding time; after that; Full definition →

Middle English afterwardes ← Old English æfteweard
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The story

  1. Old English · derived fromæfteweard“behind”
  2. Middle English · inherited fromafterwardes
  3. English todayafterwards

From Middle English afterwardes, from Old English æfteweard (“behind”) + -s (“(adverbial genitive)”). By surface analysis, after + -wards.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.