Etymology

upbeat

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Today it means: Having a fast pace, tempo, or beat. Full definition →

English beat ← Middle English beten ← Old English bēatan
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The story

  1. Englishup-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*bʰew-der.?
  3. Proto-Germanic*bautaną
  4. Proto-West Germanic*bautan
  5. Old Englishbēatan
  6. Middle Englishbeten
  7. Englishbeat
  8. English todayupbeat

From up- + beat.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.