Untoward means unexpected and unwelcome. Nothing untoward, an untoward incident, untoward effects.
It appears overwhelmingly in the negative: nothing untoward is what a report says when it found no trouble, and the phrase is almost a formula. In medicine, untoward effects is an older term for side effects.
1adjectiveuntowardUnexpected and unwelcome.
“If you notice anything untoward on the train, please tell a member of staff.”
untoward is a quality.
Un- plus toward in its old sense of favourable or promising.
Proto-Indo-European
*wer- — to heed, defend
Proto-Germanic
*warduz — guard, keeper
Old English
weard — keeper, watchman, guard, guardian, protector; lord, king; possessor
Middle English
warde
English
ward
English, today
untoward
From un + toward. ward comes from Middle English warde, from Old English weard (“keeper, watchman, guard, guardian, protector; lord, king; possessor”), from Proto-Germanic warduz (“guard, keeper”), from Proto-Indo-European wer- (“to heed, defend”). Cognate with Dutch waard, German Wart.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA