backwards
back·wards/ˈbækwɜɹdz/adjective, adverb, verb
backwards is spelled B-A-C-K-W-A-R-D-S, 2 syllables: back·wards. The wrong spelling people search most is ackwards: about 10 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 68 of all searches for the word. Backwards is an adjective meaning “Synonym of backward; see usage notes there”.
How many letters and syllables are in backwards?
| Letters | 9: B-A-C-K-W-A-R-D-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: back·wards |
| In writing | 11 times per million words; the 6,674th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, ackwards, about 10 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell backwards?
Backwards is spelled B-A-C-K-W-A-R-D-S. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 68 of the searches for backwards in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is backwards?
Backwards appears 11 times per million words in written English, the 6,674th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce backwards?
- UK /ˈbækwɜːdz/
- US /ˈbækwɜɹdz/
Backwards has 2 syllables, split back·wards in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-backwards.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of backwards
- more backwards comparative
- most backwards superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does backwards mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Synonym of backward; see usage notes there.
adverb
- 1
Synonym of backward; see usage notes there.
verb
- 1
third-person singular simple present indicative of backward
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does backwards come from?
From backward + -s. See also -s (“used in the formation of certain adverbs: backwards, downwards, inwards, etc.”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).