northwest English · revision 7474

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=before 12th century}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /nɔːθˈwɛst/ ''(UK)''; /nɔɹθˈwɛst/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English, [[inh|ang|norþwest|t=to the north-west]], an adverb compounded of [[north]] and [[west]].^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) The noun and the adjective developed from the adverb.^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Toward a point between north and west: Old English, before the 12th century in MWU.^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ As a noun, the region lying in the northwest of a country, and as an adjective, it is from the late 14th century.^(Etymonline) In United States geography the Northwest was at first the territory that later became Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan (1787), organized by the Northwest Ordinance of that year;^(Etymonline) after about 1853 the name went to the territory north of Nebraska and west of Minnesota,^(Etymonline) and ''Pacific Northwest'', for Oregon and Washington, is from 1874.^(Etymonline) The ''Northwest Passage'', a sea route from the Atlantic to the Pacific along the northern coasts of North America, is from about 1600.^(Etymonline) In Britain the Northwest is the part of England around Lancashire and the Lake District.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Old English – the adverb.^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)

+ * late 14th century – noun and adjective.^(Etymonline)

+ * c. 1600 – Northwest Passage.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1787 – the US Northwest.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1874 – Pacific Northwest.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The [[direction]] or point of the [[compass]] halfway between north and west.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A region lying in the northwest.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(the Northwest)'' The northwestern part of the United States, or of England.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # In, toward or facing the northwest.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Coming from the northwest, as a wind.^(AHD)

+

+ ===Adverb===

+ # In, from or toward the northwest.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[northwestern]]

+ * [[northwester]]

+ * [[northwesterly]]

+ * [[northwestwards]]

+ * [[north-northwest]]

+ * [[west-northwest]]

+ * [[North West]]

+ * [[Northwest Passage]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[north]]

+ * [[west]]

+ * [[northeast]]

+ * [[southwest]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Collins notes a nautical pronunciation without the th, and the CEPD gives it as /ˌnɔːˈwest/.^(Collins 2023)^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}