southeasterly

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˌsaʊθˈistɚli/ UK /ˌsaʊθˈiːstəli/ See IPA manual

adj adv

Meanings

1

adj
toward or coming from the southeast

A southeasterly breeze carried the scent of the sea inland.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · toward or coming from the... southeasternsoutheastward

Opposites

northwesterly

Word family

Related forms southeast southeastern south east

Etymology

From southeast + -erly, the adverbial/adjectival suffix for directions; southeast itself is a compound of Old English sūþ ('south') and ēast ('east').

sūþ Old English ēast Old English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

# southeasterly

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj, adv
**IPA (US):** ˌsaʊθˈistɚli
**IPA (UK):** ˌsaʊθˈiːstəli

## Meanings
1. toward or coming from the southeast

## Examples
- A southeasterly breeze carried the scent of the sea inland.

## Synonyms
- southeastern
- southeastward

## Antonyms
- northwesterly

## Related Forms
- southeast
- southeastern
- south
- east

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: sūþ
- Root: ēast

## Etymology
From southeast + -erly, the adverbial/adjectival suffix for directions; southeast itself is a compound of Old English sūþ ('south') and ēast ('east').

## AI Etymology
Southeasterly comes from southeast + -erly, the adverbial/adjectival suffix for directions; southeast itself is a compound of Old English sūþ ('south') and ēast ('east'). The historical chain includes Old English sūþ and Old English ēast. The quoted older senses, "south" and "east", supply the semantic anchors for southeasterly. The formation is best read as suffixal, compound, and borrowed: the word southeasterly carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a adj, "toward or coming from the southeast". Related English forms include southeast, southeastern, south, and east. The result is a adj and adv whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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