Word.ws English Dictionary

up-

up- prefix: used to indicate increase.

Prefix

up-

  1. Used to indicate increase.
    • Over time the engine's power was uprated.
  2. Used to indicate higher position or direction, literally or figuratively.
    • The uptake of tickets increased dramatically after the favorable review.

Origin of up-

From Middle English up-, from Old English ūp- (“up-”), from ūp (“up, from above”). Cognate with Dutch op- (“up-”), German auf- (“up-”). More at up.

Questions about up-

What does up- mean?
Up- means used to indicate increase.
What part of speech is up-?
Up- is a prefix.

Words near up- in the dictionary

  1. up with the lark
  2. up with the larks
  3. up your ass
  4. up your nose with a rubber hose
  5. up yours
  6. up-
  7. up-and-comer
  8. up-and-comers
  9. up-and-coming
  10. up-and-comingness
  11. up-and-down

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: up- (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “up-.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/up-. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.