northwest

See also: north-west and North West

English

Northwest.

Alternative forms

• north-west (UK)
• nor'-west (nautical)
• NW (abbreviation)

Etymology

From Middle English northwest, from Old English norþwest, equivalent to north +‎ west.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /nɔɹθˈwɛst/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /nɔːθˈwɛst/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛst
• Hyphenation: north‧west

Noun

northwest (plural northwests)

1. The intercardinal compass point halfway between west and north; specifically at a bearing of 315°.

   Antonym: southeast

Coordinate terms

compass points:  ^[edit]

northwest	north	northeast
west		east
southwest	south	southeast

Derived terms

including adjective

• north by northwest
• north-northwest
• north northwest
• north-northwesterly
• north-northwestern
• north-northwestwards
• North West
• Northwest Arctic Borough
• northwestbound
• northwest by north
• northwest by west
• northwester
• northwesterly
• northwestern
• Northwest Germanic
• northwestmost
• Northwest Passage
• Northwest Territories
• northwestwards
• Old Northwest
• Pacific Northwest
• west northwest
• west-northwest
• west-northwesterly
• west-northwestern
• west-northwestwards

Translations

compass point

• Armenian: հյուսիս-արևմուտք (hy) (hyusis-arewmutkʻ)
• Basque: ipar-sartalde, ipar-mendebal
• Batak:

  Karo Batak: mangabia

  Toba Batak: manabia

• Belarusian: паўно́чны за́хад m (pawnóčny záxad)
• Bikol:

  Central Bikol: amihanan-sulnopan (bcl)

• Bulgarian: североза́пад m (severozápad)
• Burmese: အနောက်မြောက် (my) (a.naukmrauk)
• Catalan: nord-oest (ca), mestral (ca)
• Chinese:

  Hakka: 西北 (sî-pet)

  Hokkien: 西北 (sai-pak)

  Mandarin: 西北 (zh) (xīběi)

• Czech: severozápad (cs) m
• Danish: nordvest (da)
• Dutch: noordwesten (nl) n
• Esperanto: nordokcidento, norduesto
• Estonian: loe (et)
• Faroese: útnyrðingur m
• Finnish: luode (fi)
• French: nord-ouest (fr) m
• Galician: noroeste m
• Georgian: ჩრდილო-დასავლეთი (črdilo-dasavleti), ჩრდილოეთ-დასავლეთი (črdiloet-dasavleti)
• German: Nordwesten (de) m
• Greek: βορειοδυτικά (el) (voreiodytiká)
• Hindi: पश्चिमोत्तर (hi) m (पश्चिमोत्तर)
• Hungarian: északnyugat (hu)
• Icelandic: norðvestur (is) n, útnorður n
• Ido: nord-westo (io)
• Indonesian: barat laut (id)
• Ingrian: länspohja, loovve (dated or poetic)
• Interlingua: nord-west
• Irish: iarthuaisceart m
• Italian: nordovest
• Japanese: 北西 (ja) (ほくせい, hokusei), (less common) 西北 (ja) (せいほく, seihoku), (obsolete) 乾 (ja) (いぬい, inui)
• Javanese: lor kulon (ngoko), lèr kilèn (krama), nurwitri (literary)
• Khmer: ពាយ័ព្យ (piəyŏəp)
• Korean: 북서(北西) (bukseo)
• Lao: ພາຍັບ (php)
• Latin: caurus m
• Latvian: ziemeļrietumi m
• Lithuanian: šiaurės vakarų m pl
• Macedonian: североза́пад m (severozápad)
• Madurese: bârâ' ḍâjâ
• Malay: barat laut
• Maltese: majjistral
• Māori: uru-mā-raki, marangai-mā-uru
• Melanau:

  Central Melanau: laan alud

• Mon: ဗာယပ်
• Navajo: náhookǫs dóó eʼeʼaah
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: nordvest

  Nynorsk: nordvest

• Old Norse: útnorðr n
• Persian: شمال غربی (šamâl-e ġarbi)
• Polish: północny zachód m
• Portuguese: noroeste (pt) m
• Romanian: nord-vest (ro) n
• Romansh: nordvest
• Russian: се́веро-за́пад (ru) m (sévero-západ), норд-ве́ст (ru) m (nord-vést) (wind or nautical)
• Scots: nor-wast
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: северозапад m, сјеверозапад m

  Latin: severozapad m, sjeverozapad (sh) m

• Slovak: severozápad m
• Slovene: severozahod m
• Spanish: noroeste (es) m, nordoeste m, noroccidente m, nordoccidente m
• Swahili: kaskazini-magharibi
• Swedish: nordväst (sv)
• Tamil: வடமேற்கு (ta) (vaṭamēṟku)
• Telugu: వాయవ్యం (vāyavyaṁ)
• Thai: พายัพ (th) (paa-yáp)
• Turkish: kuzeybatı (tr)
• Ukrainian: півні́чний за́хід m (pivníčnyj záxid), норд-ве́ст m (nord-vést) (wind or nautical)
• Vietnamese: phía tây bắc, hướng tây bắc, tây bắc (vi) (西北)
• Welsh: gogledd-orllewin (cy) m

Adjective

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

1. Of, in or pertaining to the northwest; northwestern.
2. Situated toward or in the direction of the northwest; northwestward; northwesterly.

   a northwest course

   • 2025 February 1, Annie Correal, “U.S. Military Planes Deliver Deportees to Honduras”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     But on Friday, a U.S. Air Force plane carrying more than 70 deportees arrived around midday in the city of San Pedro Sula, about 100 miles northwest of Tegucigalpa, the capital.

3. Coming from the northwest; northwesterly.

   a northwest wind

Translations

northwestern — see northwestern

northwestward — see northwestward

northwesterly — see northwesterly

Adverb

northwest (not generally comparable, comparative further northwest or farther northwest, superlative furthest northwest or farthest northwest)

1. Towards or in the direction of the northwest; northwestwards.

   We are travelling northwest at the moment.

Translations

northwestward — see northwestward

Anagrams

• net worths, went short