"-wards" meaning in English

See -wards in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Suffix

IPA: /wədz/ [Received-Pronunciation], /wɚdz/ [General-American], /wɔːdz/ [Received-Pronunciation], /wɔɹdz/ [General-American]
Etymology: From Middle English -wardes, from Old English -weardes, a variant of -weard; equivalent to -ward + -s (adverbial suffix). Etymology templates: {{root|en|ine-pro|*wert-}}, {{inh|en|enm|-wardes}} Middle English -wardes, {{inh|en|ang|-weardes}} Old English -weardes, {{af|en|-ward|-s|id2=adverbial|pos2=adverbial suffix}} -ward + -s (adverbial suffix) Head templates: {{head|en|suffix|cat2=|cat3=|head=|id=}} -wards, {{en-suffix}} -wards
  1. Forming adjectives and adverbs denoting course or direction to, or motion or tendency toward, as in "backwards", "towards", etc. Tags: morpheme Related terms: -ward Translations (forming adjectives): -waarts (Dutch) Translations (forming adverbs): -waarts (Dutch), -päin (Finnish), -wärts (German), ־ה (-a) (Hebrew), ל־ (l'-) (Hebrew), -up (Latvian), אַר־ (ar-) (Yiddish)
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      "expansion": "Middle English -wardes",
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      },
      "expansion": "-ward + -s (adverbial suffix)",
      "name": "af"
    }
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  "etymology_text": "From Middle English -wardes, from Old English -weardes, a variant of -weard; equivalent to -ward + -s (adverbial suffix).",
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      "args": {},
      "expansion": "-wards",
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "suffix",
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          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
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          "source": "w"
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          "name": "Terms with Hebrew translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1885, W[illiam] S[chwenck] Gilbert, Arthur Sullivan, composer, “The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu”, in […] The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu, London: Chappel & Co., […], →OCLC:",
          "text": "(Katisha:) At once I go Mikado-wards!",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Forming adjectives and adverbs denoting course or direction to, or motion or tendency toward, as in \"backwards\", \"towards\", etc."
      ],
      "id": "en--wards-en-suffix-JndLNqQD",
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "-ward"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "morpheme"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "forming adverbs",
          "word": "-waarts"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "forming adverbs",
          "word": "-päin"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "forming adverbs",
          "word": "-wärts"
        },
        {
          "code": "he",
          "lang": "Hebrew",
          "roman": "-a",
          "sense": "forming adverbs",
          "word": "־ה"
        },
        {
          "code": "he",
          "lang": "Hebrew",
          "roman": "l'-",
          "sense": "forming adverbs",
          "word": "ל־"
        },
        {
          "code": "lv",
          "lang": "Latvian",
          "sense": "forming adverbs",
          "word": "-up"
        },
        {
          "code": "yi",
          "lang": "Yiddish",
          "roman": "ar-",
          "sense": "forming adverbs",
          "word": "אַר־"
        },
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          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "forming adjectives",
          "word": "-waarts"
        }
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      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
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      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/wɔɹdz/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "-wards"
}
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      },
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    }
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  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {},
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "suffix",
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    {
      "word": "-ward"
    }
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        "English terms derived from Middle English",
        "English terms derived from Old English",
        "English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European",
        "English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *wert-",
        "English terms inherited from Middle English",
        "English terms inherited from Old English",
        "English terms suffixed with -s (adverbial)",
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          "ref": "1885, W[illiam] S[chwenck] Gilbert, Arthur Sullivan, composer, “The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu”, in […] The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu, London: Chappel & Co., […], →OCLC:",
          "text": "(Katisha:) At once I go Mikado-wards!",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Forming adjectives and adverbs denoting course or direction to, or motion or tendency toward, as in \"backwards\", \"towards\", etc."
      ],
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        "morpheme"
      ]
    }
  ],
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    {
      "ipa": "/wədz/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/wɚdz/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/wɔːdz/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/wɔɹdz/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "forming adverbs",
      "word": "-waarts"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "forming adverbs",
      "word": "-päin"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "forming adverbs",
      "word": "-wärts"
    },
    {
      "code": "he",
      "lang": "Hebrew",
      "roman": "-a",
      "sense": "forming adverbs",
      "word": "־ה"
    },
    {
      "code": "he",
      "lang": "Hebrew",
      "roman": "l'-",
      "sense": "forming adverbs",
      "word": "ל־"
    },
    {
      "code": "lv",
      "lang": "Latvian",
      "sense": "forming adverbs",
      "word": "-up"
    },
    {
      "code": "yi",
      "lang": "Yiddish",
      "roman": "ar-",
      "sense": "forming adverbs",
      "word": "אַר־"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "forming adjectives",
      "word": "-waarts"
    }
  ],
  "word": "-wards"
}

Download raw JSONL data for -wards meaning in English (3.1kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-20 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-01 using wiktextract (ee63ee9 and 4230888). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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