west

CEFRA1

/wɛst/

noun · adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    The direction where the sun sets.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    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.

Examples

  • Dark clouds were gathering in the west.

  • Many men went west in search of gold.

At a glance

Sits at A1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. The western region or area; the inhabitants thereof.

  2. The direction opposite to that of the earth's rotation, specifically 270°.

adjective

Extra meaning

  1. Situated or lying in or toward the west; westward.

More examples

In context

  • The balloon floated off into the west.

  • Portugal lies to the west of Spain.

  • We used to live in the west of the country.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

Each clear evening, the sun sinks below the horizon in the blank.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

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 and Dutch west (“west”), German West (“west”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk vest (“west”), Faroese and Icelandic vestur (“west”), Swedish väst, väster (“west”); also with Irish feascar, feasgar (“evening; vespers”), Cornish gorthugher (“evening”), Manx fastyr (“afternoon, evening; vespers”), Scottis...