west

west · noun, adjective, adverb, verb¹

1. Proto-Indo-European · inherited from*wek⁽ʷ⁾speros“evening”
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*westraz“west”
3. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*westrą“west”
4. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*westr“western”
5. Old English · inherited fromwest
6. Middle English · inherited fromwest
7. English todaywest

PIE word *wek⁽ʷ⁾speros From Middle English west, from Old English west, from Proto-West Germanic *westr (“western”), from Proto-Germanic *westrą (“west”), from Proto-Germanic *westraz (“west”), from Proto-Indo-European *wek⁽ʷ⁾speros (“evening”). Cognates Cognate with Scots wast (“west”), North Frisian waast, weest, wäst (“west”), Saterland Frisian Wääste (“west”), West Frisian and Dutch west (“west”), German West (“west”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk vest (“west”), Faroese and Icelandic vestur (“west”), Swedish väst, väster (“west”); also with Irish feascar, feasgar (“evening; vespers”), Cornish gorthugher (“evening”), Manx fastyr (“afternoon, evening; vespers”), Scottish Gaelic feasgar (“afternoon, evening”), Latin vesper (“evening”), Ancient Greek ἕσπερος (hésperos, “evening; western”), Latvian vakars (“evening”), Lithuanian vakaras (“evening”), Czech, Slovak and Slovene večer (“evening”), Kashubian wieczór (“evening”), Polish wieczerz, wieczór (“evening”), Russian вечер (večer, “evening”), Serbo-Croatian вече, вечер, veče, večer (“evening”), Armenian գիշեր (gišer, “night”). Compare also Catalan oest (“west”), French ouest (“west”), Galician oeste, ueste (“west”), Italian ovest (“west”), Portuguese, Spanish oeste (“west”) (all ultimately borrowings of the Old English word).

West · proper noun²

* In most senses and as an English surname, by proprialization from west. * As a Finnish surname, Americanized from Vesterinen.

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• circa 1300 The western region or area; the inhabitants thereof.
• from 15th c. To move to the west; (of the sun), to set.