Northbound

How to spell northbound

10 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce northbound

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does northbound mean?

1. adjectiveTravelling or leading towards the north.

Northbound in a sentence

• The northbound train was delayed by signal problems near the depot.

• Heavy traffic built up on the northbound carriageway during the morning rush.

Where does northbound come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a compound of 'north' and 'bound'. 'North' descends from the Old English 'norð', a native Germanic word for the cold direction, related to the German 'Nord' and shared across the Scandinavian languages. The 'bound' here is the easily misread part: it is not the 'bound' of tying or leaping, but a separate word from the Old Norse 'buinn', meaning 'ready' or 'prepared', which gave a sense of 'making ready to go' and then simply 'heading towards'. By the time travel and shipping language settled in the 1600s and 1700s, '-bound' was a productive suffix meaning 'travelling in a particular direction', as in 'homeward bound'. The whole compound came into common use with the spread of railways and scheduled transport, when crews needed a quick label for the direction of travel.

How the word is built

• north (compass direction)
• bound (going towards, from Old Norse buinn 'ready, prepared to go')