"U" Word Origins

upbeat

Origin

Originally a music term for the unaccented beat before the main beat of a bar, later extended to mean generally cheerful or positive.

upbraid

Origin

From Middle English upbreyden, from Old English upbreġdan, equivalent to up- + braid. Compare English umbraid (“to upbraid”), Icelandic bregða (“to draw, brandish, braid, deviate from, change, break off, upbraid”). See up, and braid (transitive).

upbringing

Middle English

From Middle English upbringinge, from upbring plus -ing.

upbuild

Origin

From up- + build.

upcoming

Origin

From up + coming — literally "coming up" toward the present.

upcountry

Origin

Possibly a calque of French Pays d'en Haut, a designation from 1610 referring to the area of New France west of Montreal. By surface analysis, up + country.

upcycled

Origin

From upcycle + -ed.

update

Origin · 1940

Formed from up- + date; first recorded in English in the 1940s.

updraft

Origin

From up- + draft.

upgrade

Origin

From up- + grade, originally describing an upward slope before extending to any improvement.

upheaval

Origin

From upheave + the noun-forming suffix -al.

uphill

Origin

From up + hill.

uphold

Middle English

From Middle English upholden, from up- + hold.

upholster

Origin

Back-formation from upholsterer (“tradesman who finishes furniture”), from Middle English upholdester, variant of Middle English upholder (“dealer in small goods”), from upholden (“to repair, uphold”); equivalent to uphold + -ster. Sense development as well as form may have been influenced by conflation with unrelated bolster.

upholsterer

Origin

From upholster + -er, from Middle English upholdester, upholster, from Middle English upholder (“dealer in small goods”), from upholden (“to repair, uphold”). By surface analysis, uphold + -ster + -er.

upholstery

Origin · 1597

First recorded in 1597, built from upholster plus the suffix -y.

upkeep

Origin

From up + keep.

upland

Origin

From Middle English upland, from Old English ūpland (“the country”); equivalent to up- + land. The word as an adjective developed in Middle English.

uplandish

Origin

From Middle English uplondish, oplondysch, uplondysch, from Old English uplendisc (“uplandish”); equivalent to upland + -ish.

uplift

Origin

From up- + lift.

uplifting

Origin

From uplift + -ing.

uplink

Origin

From up + link.

upload

Origin

From up- + load.

upmarket

Origin

From up- + market.

upon

Old English

From Middle English upon, from Old English uppon, formed from up + on.

upper

Middle English

From Middle English upper, formed as up + the comparative suffix -er.

uppercut

Origin

From upper + cut.

uppity

Origin · 1880

From an earlier form uppedy, built from up + -ed + -y; first recorded around 1880 in Joel Chandler Harris's Uncle Remus stories.

Uppsala

Old Norse

Borrowed from Swedish Uppsala, from Old Norse Uppsalir (literally “upper halls, upper dwellings”), from upp (“up”) + salir (“halls, rooms”, plural of salr).

upraise

Origin

From up- + raise.

upright

Old English

From Old English upriht, from up- + right.

uprise

Origin

From Middle English uprisen, from Old English ūprīsan (“to rise up”), equivalent to up- + rise. Cognate with Icelandic upprisa (“resurrection”), Middle Low German oprīsinge (“uprising”). Compare also Icelandic uppreisn (“an uprising, revolt”).

uprising

Origin

Formed from uprise plus the suffix -ing.

upriver

Origin

From up- + river.

uproar

German

A loan-translation of Dutch oproer or German Aufruhr, reshaped in English as up + roar.

uproarious

Origin

From uproar + -ious (a variant of -ous (“suffix forming adjectives from nouns, to denote possession or presence of a quality in any degree, commonly in abundance”)).

uproot

Origin

From up- + root, meaning to tear something up by its roots or, figuratively, by force.

uprooter

Origin

From uproot + -er.

upscale

Origin · 1966

From up + scale, first used as an adjective in 1966 and as a verb in 1963.

upset

Middle English

From Middle English upsetten, from up- + set.

upshift

Origin

From Middle English upshiften, upschyften (“to raise”), equivalent to up- + shift.

upshot

Origin

Thought to come from up- + shot, originally referring to the final, decisive shot in an archery match.

upside

Origin

From up + side.

upsolve

Origin

From up- + solve.

upstage

Origin

From up- + stage. The figurative meaning "to draw attention away" comes from actors moving to a higher, more visible spot on a sloped stage.

upstairs

Origin

From up- + stair + -s.

upstanding

Origin

From up- + standing.

upstart

Middle English

From Middle English upstarten, "to spring up" — built from up + start, since an upstart seems to appear suddenly from nowhere.