North-west or northwest?
north-west is a noun meaning “Alternative form of northwest”; northwest is a noun meaning “The intercardinal compass point halfway between west and north; specifically at…”. north-west is written with a hyphen and northwest as one word; they are used differently.
What is the difference between north-west and northwest?
| north-west | northwest | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, adjective, adverb | noun, adjective, adverb |
| Meaning | UKAlternative form of northwest | The intercardinal compass point halfway between west and north; specifically at a bearing of 315° Of, in or pertaining to the northwest; northwestern Situated toward or in the direction of the northwest; northwestward; northwesterly |
| Example | none recorded | a northwest course |
| Forms | north-wests | northwests |
| Pronunciation | not recorded | /nɔɹθˈwɛst/ /nɔːθˈwɛst/ /noːθˈwɛst/ |
| In writing | not counted (the list counts single words) | 14 times per million words |
Sources: north-west and northwest in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of north-west and northwest
north-west
- 1
UKAlternative form of northwest
- 2
UKAlternative form of northwest
- 3
UKAlternative form of northwest
northwest
- 1
The intercardinal compass point halfway between west and north; specifically at a bearing of 315°
- 2
Of, in or pertaining to the northwest; northwestern
- 3
Towards or in the direction of the northwest; northwestwards
We are travelling northwest at the moment
- 4
Situated toward or in the direction of the northwest; northwestward; northwesterly
a northwest course
- 5
Coming from the northwest; northwesterly
a northwest wind
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, north-west or northwest?
north-west is a phrase, which the list of single words does not count; northwest 14 times per million words.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search north-west vs northwest?
“north-west vs northwest” is searched about 40 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“northwest vs north-west”, “north-west or northwest”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.