eastern

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈiː.stᵊn/, US /ˈiː.stɚn/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English estern,^[2] inherited from Old English ēasterne (“of the east, from the east”),^[3][2] formed from east and the suffix -erne, which marks direction.^[3][4] It is cognate with Old Saxon ōstrōni, Old High German ōstrōni and Old Norse austrœnn.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of or belonging to the east of the world, oriental, and of the wind, blowing from the east: before 1000.^[5] Old English also used it of the Eastern Church.^[3]

Semantic evolution

“Lying towards the east” is from 1593.^[5] In the United States it referred to the north-eastern States from 1776,^[5] and the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Virginia was so called from the 1620s.^[3][5] A member of the Eastern Church is a noun sense from about 1000.^[5] The Eastern Church and the Eastern Roman Empire take the adjective with a capital.^[6][7]

Timeline

• before 1000 – of the east; of the wind.^[5]
• 1593 – lying to the east.^[5]
• 1620s – the Eastern Shore.^[3]
• 1776 – of the eastern United States.^[5]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Situated in, towards or facing the east.
2. Coming from the east: an eastern wind.
3. Of the countries of Asia; oriental.
4. Eastern: of the Eastern Orthodox Church.
5. Of the eastern part of the United States.

Word family

• easternness
• easternmost
• easterner
• easternize
• noneastern
• eastern bluebird
• Eastern Europe

Related words

• east
• Easter
• northern
• southern
• western
• orient

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
7. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster