Etymology

upper

up·per
U1P3P3E1R1

Today it means: At a higher physical position, level, rank or order. Full definition →

Middle English upper ← Old English upp ← Proto-West Germanic *upp
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*upó
  2. Proto-Germanic*ub
  3. Proto-Germanic*upp
  4. Proto-West Germanic*upp
  5. Old Englishupp
  6. Middle Englishup
  7. Middle Englishupper
  8. English todayupper

Inherited from Middle English upper. By surface analysis, up + -er.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.