northerly

C2+ Topic:Space, Position & Direction

US /ˈnɔrðərli/ UK /ˈnɔːðəli/ See IPA manual

adj adv noun

Meanings

1

adj
toward or coming from the north

The ship held a northerly course through the night.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · toward or coming from the... northern northward boreal

Opposites

southerly southern

Word family

Related forms north northern northward

Etymology

From north + -erly, from Old English norð ('north'), from Proto-Germanic *nurþrą.

norð Old English *nurþrą Proto-Germanic

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Topics

Space, Position & Direction Word Formation & Derivatives

# northerly

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj, adv, noun
**IPA (US):** ˈnɔrðərli
**IPA (UK):** ˈnɔːðəli

## Meanings
1. toward or coming from the north

## Examples
- The ship held a northerly course through the night.

## Synonyms
- northern
- northward
- boreal

## Antonyms
- southerly
- southern

## Related Forms
- north
- northern
- northward

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: norð
- Root: *nurþrą

## Etymology
From north + -erly, from Old English norð ('north'), from Proto-Germanic *nurþrą.

## AI Etymology
Northerly is from north + -erly, from Old English norð ('north'), from Proto-Germanic *nurþrą. Important recorded forms include norð (Old English) and *nurþrą (Proto-Germanic). Morphologically, the word preserves a built structure whose named elements carry the historical sense into English. The modern sense remains close to that composition, with the parts narrowing into a single lexical item. In current use it covers toward or coming from the north. The wider family includes related words such as north, northern, and northward.

## Topics
- Space, Position & Direction
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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