west
Meanings
- The direction opposite to that of the earth's rotation, specifically 270°.
- The western region or area; the inhabitants thereof.
- In a church: the direction of the gallery, opposite to the altar, and opposite to the direction faced by the priest when celebrating ad orientem.
- Situated or lying in or toward the west; westward.
- Of wind: from the west.
- Of or pertaining to the west; western.
- From the West; occidental.
- Designating, or situated in, the liturgical west, that part of a church which is opposite to, and farthest from, the part containing the chancel.
- Towards the west; westwards.
- To move to the west; (of the sun) to set.
- Any of various particular regions named for the cardinal direction in which they lie.
- The western world; i.e. the United States, Canada, Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
- The Western Bloc (the non-communist nations of Europe and America).
- The Western United States (sometimes excluding the West Coast), particularly (historical) in reference to the 19th century Wild West.
- The Western Roman Empire, or its successors.
- The part of the Christian Church whose traditions and practices originated in the territories of the former Western Roman Empire, including the Roman Catholic Church and the churches of the Reformation.
- A town in Holmes County, Mississippi, United States.
- A city in McLennan County, Texas, United States.
- An unincorporated community in Wetzel County, West Virginia, United States.
- A number of townships in the United States, in Illinois (2), Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Ohio and Pennsylvania, listed under West Township.
- One of four positions at 90-degree intervals that lies to the west or on the left of a diagram.
- A person (as a bridge player) occupying this position during a specified activity.
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
PIE word *wek(ʷ)speros From Middle English west, from Old English west, from Proto-West Germanic *westr (“western”), from Proto-Germanic *westrą (“west”), from Proto-Germanic *westraz (“west”), from Proto-Indo-European *wek(ʷ)speros (“evening”). Cognates Cognate with Scots wast (“west”), North Frisian waast, weest, wäst (“west”), Saterland Frisian Wääste (“west”), West Frisian, Dutch west (“west”), German West (“west”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk vest (“west”), Faroese, Icelandic vestur (“west”), Swedish väst, väster (“west”); also with Irish feascar, feasgar (“evening; vespers”), Cornish gorthugher (“evening”), Manx fastyr (“afternoon, evening; vespers”), Scottish Gaelic feasgar (“afternoon, evening”), Latin vesper (“evening”), Ancient Greek ἕσπερος (hésperos, “evening; western”), Latvian vakars (“evening”), Lithuanian vakaras (“evening”), Czech, Slovak and Slovene večer (“evening”), Kashubian wieczór (“evening”), Polish wieczerz, wieczór (“evening”), Russian вечер (večer, “evening”), Serbo-Croatian вече, вечер, veče, večer (“evening”), Armenian գիշեր (gišer, “night”). Compare also Catalan oest (“west”), French ouest (“west”), Galician oeste, ueste (“west”), Italian ovest (“west”), Portuguese, Spanish oeste (“west”) (all ultimately borrowings of the Old English word).