forth

F4O1R1T1H4
Northern England, UK, Wales/fɔːθ/Australia, British, New Zealand, Southern, Standard/foːθ/US/fɔɹθ/Scotland/foɾθ/

adverb

Forward in time, place or degree.

“The plants in spring put forth leaves.”

Similar
fromwardawayoffforwardonward
OriginMiddle English forth ← Old English forþ ← Proto-West Germanic *forþ →
CommonScrabble 11
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Meanings

forth1

adverbforth (not comparable)
  1. archaicformalnot comparableForward in time, place or degree.

    say forth

    1709-1725, John Strype, Annals of the Reformation in England
    2 more examples

    From this time forth, I never will speak word.

    c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii], page 159

    “[…] They talk of you as if you were Croesus—and I expect the beggars sponge on you unconscionably.” And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes.

    1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC
  2. archaicformalnot comparableOut into view; from a particular place or position.

    The plants in spring put forth leaves.

    2 more examples

    The robbers leapt forth from their place of concealment.

    A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: […]

    1949, Joseph Campbell, “The Hero and the God”, in The Hero with a Thousand Faces
  3. not comparableobsoleteBeyond a (certain) boundary; away; abroad; out.

    I have no mind of feasting forth to-night.

    c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene v]
    1 more example

    At the clashing of the cymbals the King sprang at Goldry as the panther springeth, and with the rush bare him backward and well nigh forth of the wrastling ground.

    1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros: A Romance, London: Jonathan Cape […], →OCLC, page 24
preposition
  1. obsoleteForth from; out of.

    Some forth their cabins peepe.

    a. 1631, John Donne, The Storme

forth2

adjective
  1. misspellingMisspelling of fourth.
noun
  1. misspellingMisspelling of fourth.

Forth3

proper nounthe Forth
  1. A river in Scotland that flows for about 47 km (29 miles) from The Trossachs through Stirling to the Firth of Forth on the North Sea.
  2. A sea area that covers the Firth of Forth.
proper noun
  1. A village in South Lanarkshire council area, Scotland (OS grid ref NS9453).
  2. A village in Central Coast council area and the City of Devonport, northern Tasmania, Australia.

Forth4

proper noun
  1. computer languagesAn imperative, stack-based high-level concatenative programming language, used mostly in control applications.

    PostScript is another concatenative language similar to the Forth family of languages.

Synonyms & antonyms

Similar
fromward

adverbfrom a particular thing or place or position (‘forth’ is obsolete)

Similar
awayoff

adverbforward in time or order or degree

Similar
forwardonward
Also see
awayforwardoffonward

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

forth · adverb, preposition

  1. Proto-Indo-European*pŕ̥-to-
  2. Proto-Germanic*furþą
  3. Proto-West Germanic*forþ
  4. Old Englishforþ
  5. Middle Englishforth
  6. Englishforth

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.

More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic

Full word history & related roots →

forth · adjective, noun

From fourth; compare forty.

Full word history & related roots →

Forth · proper noun

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

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian напред, нататък
  • напред (napred)forward in time, place or degree
  • нататък (natatăk)forward in time, place or degree
  • на показ (na pokaz)out into view
Catalan envant
  • envantforward in time, place or degree
Dutch voort, voorwaarts
  • voortforward in time, place or degree
  • voorwaartsforward in time, place or degree
  • voortout into view
  • tevoorschijnout into view
Esperanto antaŭen
  • antaŭenforward in time, place or degree
Finnish eteenpäin, esiin
  • eteenpäinforward in time, place or degree
  • esiinout into view
Polish naprzód
  • naprzódforward in time, place or degree
Russian вперёд, впредь
  • вперёд (vperjód)forward in time, place or degree
  • впредь (vpredʹ)forward in time, place or degree
Ukrainian впере́д, да́лі
  • впере́д (vperéd)forward in time, place or degree
  • да́лі (dáli)forward in time, place or degree

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with forth

northfourthhenceforthhereforthLushes Bight-Beaumont-Beaumont NorthswarthTrinity Bay North
All rhymes →

Sounds the same

fourthfourthfourthfourth

Anagrams

froth
Cite this entry
APA

forth. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/forth

MLA

“forth.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/forth. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “forth,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/forth.

Source: forth on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.