forward vs rearward

forward

rearward

noun
  • The last troop; the rear of an army; a rear guard. 

  • The part that comes last or is situated in the rear; conclusion, wind-up. 

adj
  • Toward the back or rear of something. 

adv
  • Toward the back or rear of something. 

How often have the words forward and rearward occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )