Usward

Part of speech: adverb

Definitions

1. Toward or in the direction of those being addressed
2. In the direction facing the speaker or the audience being engaged
3. Moving in the direction of the person or people being spoken to

Etymology: "Usward" is a simple formation: the pronoun "us" with the suffix "-ward", which marks direction toward something. The same suffix appears in "homeward," "eastward," and "backward," and English has long used it to turn a noun or pronoun into a word meaning "in the direction of" that thing. So "usward" means "toward us," with "us" standing for the people being addressed in the sense of the speaker and those with them. The word came into English from Middle English "us-ward," which joined the pronoun to the same directional ending. Its history is therefore that of the two parts, with the pronoun "us" dating back to Old English and the suffix "-ward" carrying the sense of motion toward a place or point.