south.
The direction towards the pole to the right-hand side of someone facing east, specifically 180°, or (on another celestial object) the direction towards the pole lying on the southern side of the invariable plane.
Meaning & usage
The direction towards the pole to the right-hand side of someone facing east, specifically 180°, or (on another celestial object) the direction towards the pole lying on the southern side of the invariable plane.
Germany is south of Denmark.
The southern region or area; the inhabitants thereof.
In a church: the direction to the right-hand side of a person facing the altar.
The negative or south pole of a magnet.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-West Germanic *sunþ Proto-Indo-European *sóh₂wl̥ ~ *sh₂wén- Proto-Indo-European *-teros Proto-Indo-European *sh₂ún-teros Proto-Germanic *sunþraz ▲ Proto-Germanic *sunþraz Proto-Germanic *sunþrą Proto-West Germanic *sunþr Old English sūþ Middle English south English south From Middle English south, from Old English sūþ, from Proto-West Germanic *sunþr (“southern”), from Proto-Germanic *sunþrą (“south”), from Proto-Indo-European *sóh₂wl̥ (“sun”). Cognates Cognate with Scots sooth (“south”), Yola zouth (“south”), North Frisian sööd, Süđ, süüd (“south”), Saterland Frisian Sude, Suud (“south”), West Frisian súd (“south”), Dutch zuid (“south”), German Süd (“south”), Danish syd (“south”), Faroese and Icelandic suður (“south”), Norwegian Bokmål syd, sør (“south”), Norwegian Nynorsk sør (“south”), Swedish syd, söder (“south”); also with Irish súil (“eye”), Cornish howl (“sun”), Manx sooill (“eye”), Scottish Gaelic sùil (“eye”), Welsh haul (“sun”), Latin sōl (“sun”), Ancient Greek ἥλιος (hḗlios, “sun; east; day”), Czech slunce (“sun”), Polish słońce (“sun”), Russian солнце (solnce, “sun”), Serbo-Croatian сунце, sunce (“sun”), Slovene sonce (“sun”), Latgalian saule (“sun”), Latvian saũle (“sun”), Lithuanian sáulė (“sun”), Albanian diell (“sun”), Avestan 𐬵𐬎𐬎𐬀𐬭𐬆 (huuar^ə, “sun”), Persian خور (xwar, “sun”), Ossetian хор (xor), хур (xur, “sun”), Sanskrit सूर्य (sūrya, “sun”), Tocharian A swāñce (“beam, ray”), Tocharian B swāñco (“beam, ray”).
Toward the south; southward.
from the south.
Of or pertaining to the south; southern.
Pertaining to the part of a corridor used by southbound traffic.
south highway 1
Designating, or situated in, the liturgical south.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-West Germanic *sunþ Proto-Indo-European *sóh₂wl̥ ~ *sh₂wén- Proto-Indo-European *-teros Proto-Indo-European *sh₂ún-teros Proto-Germanic *sunþraz ▲ Proto-Germanic *sunþraz Proto-Germanic *sunþrą Proto-West Germanic *sunþr Old English sūþ Middle English south English south From Middle English south, from Old English sūþ, from Proto-West Germanic *sunþr (“southern”), from Proto-Germanic *sunþrą (“south”), from Proto-Indo-European *sóh₂wl̥ (“sun”). Cognates Cognate with Scots sooth (“south”), Yola zouth (“south”), North Frisian sööd, Süđ, süüd (“south”), Saterland Frisian Sude, Suud (“south”), West Frisian súd (“south”), Dutch zuid (“south”), German Süd (“south”), Danish syd (“south”), Faroese and Icelandic suður (“south”), Norwegian Bokmål syd, sør (“south”), Norwegian Nynorsk sør (“south”), Swedish syd, söder (“south”); also with Irish súil (“eye”), Cornish howl (“sun”), Manx sooill (“eye”), Scottish Gaelic sùil (“eye”), Welsh haul (“sun”), Latin sōl (“sun”), Ancient Greek ἥλιος (hḗlios, “sun; east; day”), Czech slunce (“sun”), Polish słońce (“sun”), Russian солнце (solnce, “sun”), Serbo-Croatian сунце, sunce (“sun”), Slovene sonce (“sun”), Latgalian saule (“sun”), Latvian saũle (“sun”), Lithuanian sáulė (“sun”), Albanian diell (“sun”), Avestan 𐬵𐬎𐬎𐬀𐬭𐬆 (huuar^ə, “sun”), Persian خور (xwar, “sun”), Ossetian хор (xor), хур (xur, “sun”), Sanskrit सूर्य (sūrya, “sun”), Tocharian A swāñce (“beam, ray”), Tocharian B swāñco (“beam, ray”).
Toward the south; southward.
Downward.
In an adverse direction or trend.
His fortunes have been going south ever since he was tricked into investing in that ostrich farm.
Of wind, from the south.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-West Germanic *sunþ Proto-Indo-European *sóh₂wl̥ ~ *sh₂wén- Proto-Indo-European *-teros Proto-Indo-European *sh₂ún-teros Proto-Germanic *sunþraz ▲ Proto-Germanic *sunþraz Proto-Germanic *sunþrą Proto-West Germanic *sunþr Old English sūþ Middle English south English south From Middle English south, from Old English sūþ, from Proto-West Germanic *sunþr (“southern”), from Proto-Germanic *sunþrą (“south”), from Proto-Indo-European *sóh₂wl̥ (“sun”). Cognates Cognate with Scots sooth (“south”), Yola zouth (“south”), North Frisian sööd, Süđ, süüd (“south”), Saterland Frisian Sude, Suud (“south”), West Frisian súd (“south”), Dutch zuid (“south”), German Süd (“south”), Danish syd (“south”), Faroese and Icelandic suður (“south”), Norwegian Bokmål syd, sør (“south”), Norwegian Nynorsk sør (“south”), Swedish syd, söder (“south”); also with Irish súil (“eye”), Cornish howl (“sun”), Manx sooill (“eye”), Scottish Gaelic sùil (“eye”), Welsh haul (“sun”), Latin sōl (“sun”), Ancient Greek ἥλιος (hḗlios, “sun; east; day”), Czech slunce (“sun”), Polish słońce (“sun”), Russian солнце (solnce, “sun”), Serbo-Croatian сунце, sunce (“sun”), Slovene sonce (“sun”), Latgalian saule (“sun”), Latvian saũle (“sun”), Lithuanian sáulė (“sun”), Albanian diell (“sun”), Avestan 𐬵𐬎𐬎𐬀𐬭𐬆 (huuar^ə, “sun”), Persian خور (xwar, “sun”), Ossetian хор (xor), хур (xur, “sun”), Sanskrit सूर्य (sūrya, “sun”), Tocharian A swāñce (“beam, ray”), Tocharian B swāñco (“beam, ray”).
To turn or move toward the south; to veer toward the south.
To come to the meridian; to cross the north and south line.
The moon souths at nine.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-West Germanic *sunþ Proto-Indo-European *sóh₂wl̥ ~ *sh₂wén- Proto-Indo-European *-teros Proto-Indo-European *sh₂ún-teros Proto-Germanic *sunþraz ▲ Proto-Germanic *sunþraz Proto-Germanic *sunþrą Proto-West Germanic *sunþr Old English sūþ Middle English south English south From Middle English south, from Old English sūþ, from Proto-West Germanic *sunþr (“southern”), from Proto-Germanic *sunþrą (“south”), from Proto-Indo-European *sóh₂wl̥ (“sun”). Cognates Cognate with Scots sooth (“south”), Yola zouth (“south”), North Frisian sööd, Süđ, süüd (“south”), Saterland Frisian Sude, Suud (“south”), West Frisian súd (“south”), Dutch zuid (“south”), German Süd (“south”), Danish syd (“south”), Faroese and Icelandic suður (“south”), Norwegian Bokmål syd, sør (“south”), Norwegian Nynorsk sør (“south”), Swedish syd, söder (“south”); also with Irish súil (“eye”), Cornish howl (“sun”), Manx sooill (“eye”), Scottish Gaelic sùil (“eye”), Welsh haul (“sun”), Latin sōl (“sun”), Ancient Greek ἥλιος (hḗlios, “sun; east; day”), Czech slunce (“sun”), Polish słońce (“sun”), Russian солнце (solnce, “sun”), Serbo-Croatian сунце, sunce (“sun”), Slovene sonce (“sun”), Latgalian saule (“sun”), Latvian saũle (“sun”), Lithuanian sáulė (“sun”), Albanian diell (“sun”), Avestan 𐬵𐬎𐬎𐬀𐬭𐬆 (huuar^ə, “sun”), Persian خور (xwar, “sun”), Ossetian хор (xor), хур (xur, “sun”), Sanskrit सूर्य (sūrya, “sun”), Tocharian A swāñce (“beam, ray”), Tocharian B swāñco (“beam, ray”).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.