South-east or southeast?
south-east is a noun meaning “Alternative form of southeast”; southeast is a noun meaning “The intercardinal compass point halfway between east and south; specifically at…”. south-east is written with a hyphen and southeast as one word; they are used differently.
What is the difference between south-east and southeast?
| south-east | southeast | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, adjective, adverb | noun, adjective, adverb |
| Meaning | UKAlternative form of southeast | The intercardinal compass point halfway between east and south; specifically at a bearing of 135° Of, in or pertaining to the southeast; southeastern Situated toward or in the direction of the southeast; southeastward; southeasterly |
| Example | none recorded | A southeast course |
| Forms | south-easts | southeasts |
| Pronunciation | not recorded | /sawˈθɪjst/ |
| In writing | not counted (the list counts single words) | 14 times per million words |
Sources: south-east and southeast 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 south-east and southeast
south-east
- 1
UKAlternative form of southeast
- 2
UKAlternative form of southeast
- 3
UKAlternative form of southeast
southeast
- 1
The intercardinal compass point halfway between east and south; specifically at a bearing of 135°
- 2
Of, in or pertaining to the southeast; southeastern
- 3
Towards or in the direction of the southeast; southeastwards
We are travelling southeast at the moment
- 4
Situated toward or in the direction of the southeast; southeastward; southeasterly
A southeast course
- 5
Coming from the southeast; southeasterly
A southeast 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, south-east or southeast?
south-east is a phrase, which the list of single words does not count; southeast 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 south-east vs southeast?
“south-east vs southeast” is searched about 20 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“southeast vs south-east”, “south-east or southeast”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.