Northwest

How to spell northwest

9 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce northwest

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does northwest mean?

1. nounThe compass point or region lying midway between north and west.
2. adjectiveSituated in, facing, or directed toward the northwest.
3. adverbToward or in the direction of the northwest.

Northwest in a sentence

• noun

  The storm rolled in from the northwest overnight.

• adjective

  The northwest corner of the building gets the least sun.

• adverb

  The trail bends northwest after the river crossing.

• noun

  Their farm lies in the northwest of the county.

• adjective

  They booked a northwest flight to reach the coast by evening.

• adverb

  Drive northwest for an hour and you will reach the lake.

Where does northwest come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a native English compound, recorded in Old English as 'norþwest', formed straightforwardly by joining 'norþ' (north) and 'west' (west). Both elements are ancient Germanic direction words: 'north' is related to similar forms across the Germanic languages and may ultimately point to a sense of 'left' or 'below' as a traveller faced the rising sun, while 'west' is linked to roots meaning 'evening' or the direction of the setting sun. Because English has always treated these compass terms as everyday vocabulary, the spelling has stayed remarkably stable for more than a thousand years. The only modern trap is that the two short words run together with no space and no hyphen, so the silent join sits between 'th' and 'w'. Sailors and mapmakers fixed the form firmly in writing once the eight-point and sixteen-point compass became standard navigational tools.

How the word is built

• north (the cardinal direction)
• west (the cardinal direction), a compound naming the point midway between them