westerly

Etymology

It is formed from English wester + -ly,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} perhaps on the model of easterly,^[8] and the OED compares northerly and southerly.^[2] The obsolete adjective Wester, western,^[4][5] recorded in Middle English from the mid-14th century,^[7] is from Old English westra (“more to the west”),^[5][6][9][7] formed from west with a comparative suffix,^[6][5] and related to Old Frisian westra, Old High German westar and Old Norse vestri.^[2] The American Heritage Dictionary traces it to Proto-Indo-European *wes-pero-.^[9] The OED compares vestarliga and Old High German westarlīh, formed in the same way.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Towards the west, in a westerly direction: before 1470, in Malory's Morte Darthur.^[2] Etymonline dates the adverb to the late 15th century, with the senses having a westward direction and facing the west.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The adverb came first, and the adjective, "situated towards the west", followed in 1549.^[2][5] Used of the wind, the word soon meant "coming from the west" (1550),^[2] while from the 1630s it could also mean "going towards the west",^[7][2] so that a westerly course runs west but a westerly wind blows from the west.^[7][10] Johnson (1755) defined it only as "tending or being towards the west".^[11] The noun, a wind from the west, is recorded from 1845, and is common in the plural for the prevailing winds of the temperate zones.^[2][5] Etymonline lists the older westly (mid-15th century) and the Scots westlins (1718) beside it.^[7]

Timeline

• before 1470 – adverb, towards the west.^[2]
• 1549 – adjective, situated in or towards the west.^[2][5]
• 1550 – of the wind, coming from the west.^[2] Etymonline dates this sense to the 1570s.^[7]
• 1556 – adverb, of the wind, from the west.^[2]
• 1624 – of a person, coming from or living in the west (now rare).^[2]
• 1637 – extending or directed towards the west.^[2][7]
• 1801 – of the sun or sky, near the western horizon.^[2]
• 1845 – noun, a wind blowing from the west.^[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Situated in or towards the west: the westerly edge of the forest.^[10][5][2]
2. Moving or facing towards the west: They set off in a westerly direction.^[5][2][10]
3. Of a wind, blowing from the west.^[10][5][2]

Adverb

1. Towards the west.^[10][5][2]
2. Of a wind, from the west.^[5][2][10]

Noun

1. A wind blowing from the west, often in the plural for the prevailing winds of the middle latitudes.^[10][5][2]

Word family

• westerliness
• northwesterly
• southwesterly

Related words

• wester
• west
• western
• easterly

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.