'backwards' originates from English, formed from the word 'back' with the suffix '-ward(s)', where 'back' meant 'the rear' and '-ward(s)' meant 'toward' or 'in the direction of'.

'backwards' changed from Old English elements: 'bæc' (meaning 'back, rear') combined with an Old English directional/adjectival suffix like '-weard'; Middle English forms included 'backward(e)' and 'backwardes', and these developed into the modern English 'backwards'.

Initially it meant 'toward the rear' (a literal spatial sense), but over time it also came to mean 'in reverse order' and figuratively 'behind in development' or 'unenlightened'.