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-ward

Origin

a native English suffix denoting spatial or temporal direction, as specified by the initial element: toward; seaward; afterward; backward.

Also, -wards.

Origin:
Middle English; Old English -weard towards; cognate with German -wärts; akin to Latin 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.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To -ward

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-ward is always a great word to know.

So is ninnyhammer. Does it mean:

a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.

a fool or simpleton; ninny.

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Collins

World English Dictionary

-ward

—*suffix*
1.	(forming adjectives) indicating direction towards: a backward step; heavenward progress
2.	(forming adverbs) a variant and the usual US and Canadian form of -wards

[Old English -weard towards]

-wards or -ward

—*suffix forming adverbs*
	Compare -ward indicating direction towards: a step backwards; to sail shorewards

[Old English -weardes towards]

-ward or -ward

—*suffix forming adverbs*

[Old English -weardes towards]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

-ward

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

EXPAND

versus). The original notion is of "turned toward."

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