Etymology

forth

F4O1R1T1H4

Today it means: Forward in time, place or degree. Full definition →

Middle English forth ← Old English forþ ← Proto-West Germanic *forþ
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forth · adverb, preposition1

  1. Proto-Indo-European · inherited from*pŕ̥-to-
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*furþą
  3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*forþ
  4. Old English · inherited fromforþ
  5. Middle English · inherited fromforth
  6. English todayforth

From Middle English forth, from Old English forþ, from Proto-West Germanic *forþ, from Proto-Germanic *furþą, from Proto-Indo-European *pŕ̥-to-, from *per-. Cognates include Dutch voort and German fort. See also ford.

forth · adjective, noun2

From fourth; compare forty.

Forth · proper noun3

From fourth, for "fourth-generation programming language"; the u was dropped because the IBM 1130 operating system limited filenames to five characters.

Words from the same roots

Proto-West Germanic*forþ all →

forth-

Proto-Germanic*furþą all →

affordforth-forthcomeforthgoforthward

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.