southwest

See also: south-west, Southwest, and South West

English

Southwest.

Alternative forms

• south-west (British)
• sou'-west (nautical)
• SW (abbreviation)

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /saʊθˈwɛst/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (nautical, dialectal) IPA^(key): /saʊˈwɛst/
• Rhymes: -ɛst

Noun

southwest (usually uncountable, plural southwests)

1. The intercardinal compass point halfway between south and west; specifically at a bearing of 225°.

   Antonym: northeast

   • 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter IV, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC, page 40:

     So this was my future home, I thought! […] Backed by towering hills, the but faintly discernible purple line of the French boundary off to the southwest, a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.

Coordinate terms

(compass points)

northwest	north	northeast
west		east
southwest	south	southeast

Derived terms

• south-southwest
• south-southwesterly
• south-southwestern
• south-southwestwards
• southwest by south
• southwest by west
• southwesterly
• southwestern
• southwestwards
• west-southwest
• west-southwesterly
• west-southwestern
• west-southwestwards

 

Translations

compass point

• Amis: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: հարավ-արևմուտք (hy) (harav-arewmutkʿ)
• Basque: hego-sartalde, hego-mendebal
• Belarusian: паўднёвы за́хад m (paŭdnjóvy záxad)
• Bulgarian: югоза́пад m (jugozápad)
• Burmese: အနောက်တောင် (my) (a.nauktaung)
• Catalan: sud-oest (ca) m
• Central Melanau: laan daya, beradayak
• Chinese:

  Hakka: 西南 (sî-nàm)

  Mandarin: 西南 (zh) (xīnán)

  Min Nan: 西南 (zh-min-nan) (sai-lâm)

• Czech: jihozápad (cs) m
• Danish: sydvest
• Dutch: zuidwesten (nl) n
• Esperanto: sudokcidento, suduesto
• Estonian: edel (et)
• Faroese: útsynningur m
• Finnish: lounas (fi)
• French: sud-ouest (fr) m
• Galician: suroeste m
• Georgian: სამხრეთ-დასავლეთი (samxret-dasavleti)
• German: Südwesten (de) m
• Greek: νοτιοδυτικά (el) (notiodytiká)

  Ancient: λίψ m (líps)

• Hindi: नैऋत्य (naiŕtya)
• Hungarian: délnyugat (hu)
• Icelandic: suðvestur (is) n, útsuður n
• Ido: sud-westo (io)
• Indonesian: barat daya (id)
• Ingrian: länsilounat, etelä (dated or poetic)
• Interlingua: sud-west
• Italian: sudovest m
• Japanese: 南西 (ja) (なんせい, nanséi), (less common) 西南 (ja) (せいなん, seinan), (obsolete) 坤 (ja) (ひつじさる, hitsujisaru)
• Javanese: kidul kulon (ngoko), kidul kilèn (krama), kanéya (literary)
• Karo Batak: nariti
• Khmer: និរតី (km) (nirədəy)
• Korean: 서남(西南) (ko) (seonam)
• Lao: ຫໍຣະດີ (hǭ ra dī)
• Latvian: dienvidrietumi m
• Lithuanian: pietvakarių m pl
• Macedonian: југоза́пад m (jugozápad)
• Madurese: bârâ' lao'
• Malay: barat daya
• Maltese: lbiċ
• Maori: tonga-mā-uru, hauāuru-mā-tonga, uru-mā-tonga
• Mon: နေရတိ
• Navajo: shádiʼááh dóó eʼeʼaah
• Northern Sami: oarjelulli
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: sørvest

  Nynorsk: sørvest

• Old Norse: útsuðr n
• Persian: جنوب غربی‎ (jonub-e ğarbi)
• Polish: południowy zachód m
• Portuguese: sudoeste (pt) m
• Romanian: sud-vest (ro) n, sudvest n
• Romansch: sidvest
• Russian: ю́го-за́пад (ru) m (júgo-západ), зюйд-ве́ст (ru) m (zjujd-vést) (wind or nautical)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: југозапад m

  Roman: jugozapad (sh)

• Slovak: juhozápad m
• Slovene: jugozahod m
• Spanish: sudoeste (es) m, suroeste (es) m
• Swahili: kusini-magharibi
• Swedish: sydväst (sv)
• Telugu: నైఋతి (te) (nair̥ti)
• Thai: หรดี (hɔ̌ɔ-rá-dii)
• Toba Batak: nariti
• Turkish: güneybatı (tr)
• Ukrainian: півде́нний за́хід m (pivdénnyj záxid), зюйд-ве́ст m (zjujd-vést) (wind or nautical)
• Vietnamese: phía tây nam, hướng tây nam, tây nam (vi) (西南)

Adjective

southwest (not generally comparable, comparative more southwest, superlative most southwest)

1. Of, in or pertaining to the southwest; southwestern.
2. Situated toward or in the direction of the southwest; southwestward; southwesterly.

   A southwest course.

3. Coming from the southwest; southwesterly.

   A southwest wind.

Translations

southwestern — see southwestern

southwestward — see southwestward

southwesterly — see southwesterly

Adverb

southwest (not generally comparable, comparative more southwest, superlative most southwest)

1. Towards or in the direction of the southwest; southwestwards.

   We are travelling southwest at the moment.

Translations

southwestward — see southwestward