Origin: ME; OE -weard towards; c. G -wärts; akin to L vertere to turn (see verse)
Usage note: Both -ward and -wards occur in such words as backward, forward, upward, and toward. The -ward form is by far the more common in edited American English writing.
adv. suffix expressing direction, O.E. -weard "toward," lit. "turned toward," sometimes -weardes, with genitive singular ending of neuter adjectives, from P.Gmc. *warth (cf. O.S., O.Fris. -ward, O.N. -verðr), variant of PIE *wert- "to turn, wind," from base *wer- "to turn, bend" (see versus). The original notion is of "turned toward."
