upside down

See also: upside-down, upsidedown, and Upside Down

English

A nuthatch upside down.

Alternative forms

• downside up
• upside-down, upsidedown
• up so down (14th–16th centuries)

Etymology

From Middle English up sid doun, an alteration of earlier upsadowne, upsedowne, up-so-doun (“upside down”), equivalent to up +‎ so +‎ down, literally “up as down”.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (careful speech) /ˌʌpsaɪd ˈdaʊn/, (fast speech) /ˌʌpsaɪˈdaʊn/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adverb

upside down (not comparable)

1. Inverted, so that the top is now at the bottom.

   Antonym: right side up

   The Union flag was flying upside down, a sign of danger.

   • 1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Five. The End of It.”, in A Christmas Carol. […], London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 153:

     His hands were busy with his garments all this time: turning them inside out, putting them on upside down, tearing them, mislaying them, making them parties to every kind of extravagance.

   • 1937, “A Foggy Day (In London Town)”, Ira Gershwin (lyrics), George Gershwin (music):

     For, suddenly, I saw you there / And through foggy London town / The sun was shining upside down!

2. In great disorder.

   The thief had turned the room upside down.

   • c. 1597 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The History of Henrie the Fourth; […], quarto edition, London: […] P[eter] S[hort] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1598, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], signature C2, recto:

     Peaſe and beanes are as danke here as a dog and that is the next way to giue poore iades the bots: this houſe is turned vpſide downe ſince Robin Oſtler died.

Synonyms

• (inverted): bottom-upwards, topsy-turvy

Translations

inverted

• Armenian: գլխիվայր (hy) (glxivayr), թարս (hy) (tʻars), շուռ տված (šuṙ tvac)
• Assamese: ওলোটা (ülüta)
• Azerbaijani: alt-üst, tərsinə
• Bulgarian: наопаки (bg) (naopaki)
• Catalan: a l'inrevés (ca)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 反 (faan²)

  Mandarin: 反 (zh) (fǎn), 顛倒 / 颠倒 (zh) (diāndăo), 倒 (zh) (dăo)

• Czech: vzhůru nohama
• Danish: omvendt, på hovedet
• Dutch: ondersteboven (nl)
• Esperanto: renversite (eo)
• Estonian: kummuli
• Finnish: ylösalaisin (fi), nurinperin
• French: à l'envers, sens dessus dessous (fr)
• Galician: cabeza abaixo, boca abaixo
• Georgian: თავდაყირა (tavdaq̇ira)
• German: auf dem Kopf, verkehrt herum, verkehrt rum, umgekehrt (de)
• Greek: ανάποδα (el) (anápoda)
• Haitian Creole: tèt anba
• Hebrew: הָפוּךְ m (hafúch)
• Hindi: उल्टा (hi) (ulṭā), विलोमित (hi) (vilomit)
• Hungarian: fejjel lefelé (hu)
• Iban: tunsang
• Icelandic: á hvolfi
• Irish: bunoscionn
• Italian: a rovescio, sottosopra (it), al rovescio, a testa in giù, al contrario (it)
• Japanese: 逆さに (ja) (sakasa ni), 逆さまに (ja) (sakasama ni)
• Korean: 거꾸로 (ko) (geokkuro)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: sernişîv (ku), serberjêr (ku), nixûm (ku)

• Latin: inversus
• Lithuanian: aukštyn kojomis
• Malay: please add this translation if you can
• Māori: kōaro
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: opp ned

  Nynorsk: opp ned

• Polish: do góry nogami (pl)
• Portuguese: de cabeça para baixo, de ponta-cabeça, ao contrário, de pernas para o ar
• Punjabi: ਪੁੱਠਾ (puṭṭhā)
• Romanian: cu fundul în sus, cu susul în jos
• Russian: вверх дно́м (ru) (vverx dnóm), вверх нога́ми (vverx nogámi), кверх нога́ми (kverx nogámi) (colloquial)
• Scottish Gaelic: bun-os-cionn
• Sikkimese: ག་སྦུབ (ga sbub)
• Slovak: naopak, dole hlavou, hore nohami
• Spanish: al revés, boca abajo, bocabajo, de cabeza, de revés, patas arriba (es)
• Swedish: upp och ner (sv), uppochner (sv), upp och ned (sv), uppochned (sv)
• Tagalog: tumbalik, tiwarik (tl)
• Tamil: தலைகீழாக (ta) (talaikīḻāka)
• Ukrainian: догори́ дри́ґом (dohorý drýgom), вверх дно́м (vverx dnóm), вверх нога́ми (uk) (vverx nohámy)
• Vietnamese: lộn ngược
• Walloon: cou å hôt
• Welsh: ben ucha'n isa'

in great disorder

• Finnish: sekaisin (fi), ylösalaisin (fi), sotkussa (fi)
• French: sens dessus dessous (fr)
• Galician: patas arriba
• Greek: άνω κάτω (el) (áno káto)
• Hebrew: הָפוּךְ m (hafúch)
• Hungarian: szanaszét (hu)
• Irish: trí chéile
• Italian: sottosopra (it), a soqquadro (it)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: serûbin (ku), tarûmar (ku)

• Polish: do góry nogami (pl)
• Portuguese: de pernas para o ar
• Romanian: pe dos
• Russian: кувырко́м (ru) (kuvyrkóm)
• Scots: awhummle
• Slovak: hore nohami
• Spanish: de cabeza, patas arriba (es)
• Swedish: upp och ned (sv)
• Tamil: தலைகீழாக (ta) (talaikīḻāka)
• Vietnamese: đổ lộn
• Walloon: cou dzeu cou dzo (wa)

Adjective

upside down (not comparable)

1. Inverted; turned so that the top is at the bottom.

   The pattern resembled an upside down letter W.

2. In great disorder.
   • 1901, Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr, The lion's whelp: a story of Cromwell's time, page 248:

     The wenches and the men have been on the streets all day, and the kitchen is upside down. You never saw the like.

3. (finance) Owing more money for something than it is worth; having negative equity.

   He's upside down on his mortgage.

4. (humorous) Australian.

Synonyms

• (having negative equity): underwater

Derived terms

• fuck someone upside down
• turn one's life upside down
• turn one's world upside down
• turn the frown upside down
• turn upside down
• upside-down cake
• upside-down fire
• upside down fridge
• upside-down income statement
• upside-down Jenny
• upside-down tree

Translations

inverted

• Bikol:

  Central Bikol: bulagsok, bugsok (bcl), suwi

• Bulgarian: обърнат (bg) (obǎrnat)
• Catalan: a l'inrevés (ca), cap per avall
• Danish: omvendt
• Dutch: omgekeerd (nl), op zijn kop
• Finnish: ylösalainen (fi)
• French: à l'envers (fr)
• Greek: ανάποδος (el) (anápodos)
• Hebrew: הָפוּךְ m (hafúkh)
• Hungarian: fordított (hu), megfordított (hu), fejjel lefelé fordított
• Iban: tunsang
• Irish: bun os cionn
• Italian: invertito (it), inverso (it), capovolto (it), rovesciato (it), a testa in giù
• Japanese: 逆さ (ja) (sakasa), 逆さま (ja) (sakasama)
• Malay: terbalik (ms)
• Polish: do góry nogami (pl)
• Portuguese: de cabeça para baixo, de ponta-cabeça
• Slovak: obrátený
• Spanish: al revés
• Swedish: uppochnedvänd (sv), uppochnervänd (sv)
• Turkish: altüst (tr)

  Ottoman Turkish: وارون (varun)

• Vietnamese: lộn ngược
• Welsh: wyneb i waered

having negative equity

• Polish: do góry nogami (pl)

in great disorder

• Polish: do góry nogami (pl)

Proper noun

the upside down

1. Alternative letter-case form of Upside Down.
   • 2022 September, Scott R. Sheehan, “The President’s Prose: Inside, Outside, Upside Down”, in Music Educators Journal‎^[1], volume 109, number 1, →DOI, →ISSN, pages 7–10:

     It is in the upside down where we can find many opportunities to grow and learn.

   • 2023 January, Tess Bissell, “Teaching in the Upside Down: What Anti–Critical Race Theory Laws Tell Us About the First Amendment”, in Stanford Law Review‎^[2], volume 75, archived from the original on 21 September 2023, page 212:

     it asks courts to step into the reality educators face: the reality of teaching in the upside down.

Anagrams

• downside up