Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

back of beyond

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.94 in modern English

Syllables: back- of be-yond
IPA

29

Scrabble Score

12

Letters

3

Syllables

10

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A very remote place.

Australian usage; Canadian usage; British usage; Informal

Example Sentences

"[Y]ou, wi’ some o’ your auld warld stories, that the mind o’ man canna resist, whirl’d them to the back o’ beyont to look at the auld Roman camp—[…]"
"It was a regular outside bush township, and though the distance oughtn't to have much to say to people's honesty, you'll mostly find that these far-out back-of-beyond places have got men and women to match 'em."
""I thought I should like to go near the sea — to some quite tiny country place at the back of beyond.""
"To the "Sou' West" we owe such jolly little back-o'-beyond stations as Whithorn and Portpatrick."
"We began to take Santa Claus to the kids at the isolated sidings for the same reason men all over Australia on the lines back o' beyond did [...] we didn't want them to miss that magic."

Etymology

First attested in the Scottish novelist Walter Scott’s The Antiquary (1816; see quotation). It is quite possible that Scott anglicised a rural expression rather than coined it himself—something he did numerous times with other phrases.

Usage

Inflected Forms

the back of beyond (canonical)

Synonyms

beyond the black stump remote place

Questions

What does back of beyond mean?: A very remote place.
Where does back of beyond come from?: First attested in the Scottish novelist Walter Scott’s The Antiquary (1816; see quotation). It is quite possible that Scott anglicised a rural expression rather than coined it himself—something he did numerous times with other phrases.

How to pronounce back of beyond

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