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

Noun

southwest (usually uncountable, plural southwests)

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 731476803, 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)
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 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)
Vietnamese: phía tây nam, hướng tây nam, tây nam (vi) (西南)

Adjective

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

Of, in or pertaining to the southwest; southwestern.
Situated toward or in the direction of the southwest; southwestward; southwesterly.
A southwest course.
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)

Towards or in the direction of the southwest; southwestwards.
We are travelling southwest at the moment.

Translations

southwestward — see southwestward