Etymology

backward

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Today it means: Situated toward or at the rear of something. Full definition →

Middle English bakwarde
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The story

  1. Middle English · inherited frombakwarde
  2. English todaybackward

From Middle English bakwarde, abakward, equivalent to back (adverb) + -ward. Cognate with Old Frisian bekward (“backward”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.