Upstairs

Part of speech: adverb, noun

Pronunciation: /ˌʌpˈstɛɹz/

Definitions

1. In a position situated above the level of the main floor, commonly found in residential and commercial buildings
2. Pertaining to the spaces or rooms located on higher levels within a structure, often accessed via stairs
3. Located on or directed toward a higher floor above the ground level ; referring to the rooms or area above the main floor in a building

Etymology: The word is a plain compound: "up" plus "stairs," with the final "-s" a survival of an old genitive or plural ending attached to "stair." The "stair" element traces back through Old English "stǣġer," which meant a step or a rise, and before that to a Proto-Germanic root meaning to climb or ascend, the same ancestry as the verb "stride" in its older senses. Notice that "stair" itself began as a word for a single step and only later came to mean a whole flight. "Upstairs" therefore combines "up" with a word that was once about one rising step, and the adverb, which tells you where you have gone, existed as a phrase long before it was used as an adjective for rooms.

Synonyms: above, up

Antonyms: downstairs