This paper is devoted to output‐feedback adaptive control for a class of multivariable nonlinear systems with both unknown parameters and unknown nonlinear functions. Under the Hurwitz condition for the high‐frequency gain matrix, a robust adaptive backstepping control scheme is proposed, which is able to guarantee the tracking performance and needs only one parameter to be updated online regardless of the system order and input–output dimension. To cope with the unknown nonlinear functions and improve the tracking performance, a kind of high‐gain K‐filters is introduced. It is proved that all signals of the closed‐loop system are globally uniformly bounded. Simulation results on coupled inverted double pendulums are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.