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southwest

Today it means: The intercardinal compass point halfway between south and west; specifically at a bearing of 225°. Full definition →

Middle English southwest ← Old English sūþwest

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southwest · noun, adjective, adverb¹

Old English · inherited fromsūþwest
Middle English · inherited fromsouthwest
English todaysouthwest

From Middle English southwest, southewest, from Old English sūþwest and sūþanwestan, equivalent to south + west. Cognate with West Frisian súdwest, Dutch zuidwest, German Südwesten, Danish sydvest, Swedish sydväst.

Southwest · proper noun²

French · calque ofSud-Ouest
English todaySouthwest

By proprialization from southwest, which is equivalent to south + west. * (Montreal): Calque of French Sud-Ouest. * (United States of America): Ellipsis of American Southwest or Desert Southwest.

Words from the same roots

FrenchSud-Ouest all →

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.