-ward

1.
a native English suffix denoting spatial or temporal direction, as specified by the initial element:
toward; seaward; afterward; backward.
Also, -wards.
Origin
Middle English; Old English -weard towards; cognate with German -wärts; akin to Latin vertere to turn (see verse)
Usage note
Both -ward and -wards occur in such words as backward, forward, upward, and toward. The -ward form is by far the more common in edited American English writing.
British Dictionary definitions for -ward

-ward

suffix
1.
(forming adjectives) indicating direction towards: a backward step, heavenward progress
2.
(forming adverbs) a variant and the usual US and Canadian form of -wards
Word Origin
Old English -weard towards

-wards

suffix
1.
indicating direction towards: a step backwards, to sail shorewards Compare -ward
Word Origin
Old English -weardes towards
Word Origin and History for -ward

adverbial suffix expressing direction, Old English -weard "toward," literally "turned toward," sometimes -weardes, with genitive singular ending of neuter adjectives, from Proto-Germanic *warth (cf. Old Saxon, Old Frisian -ward, Old Norse -verðr), variant of PIE *wert- "to turn, wind," from root *wer- (3) "to turn, bend" (see versus). The original notion is of "turned toward."