## Etymology
From un- ('not') plus toward in its older sense 'docile, compliant, promising', from Old English tōweard ('approaching, future'), from tō ('to') plus -weard ('-ward, turned toward').

## AI Etymology
Untoward comes from un- ('not') plus toward in its older sense 'docile, compliant, promising', from Old English tōweard ('approaching, future'), from tō ('to') plus -weard ('-ward, turned toward'). The historical chain includes Old English un- and Old English tōweard. The quoted older senses, "not", "docile, compliant, promising", "approaching, future", "to", and "-ward, turned toward", supply the semantic anchors for untoward. The formation is best read as borrowed: the word untoward carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a adj, "unexpected and inappropriate or inconvenient". English derivatives include untowardly and untowardness; related English forms include toward and forward. The result is a adj whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.

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- Describing Qualities
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