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PlainSpell

north

/noɹθ/noun, adjective, adverb

north is spelled N-O-R-T-H: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 219 times per million words in written English, the 460th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, north means “The direction towards the pole to the left-hand side of someone facing east, specifically 0°, or (on another celestial object) the direction towards…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of north is norths.

How many letters and syllables are in north?

Letters5: N-O-R-T-H
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing219 times per million words; the 460th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is north?

North appears 219 times per million words in written English, the 460th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce north?

  • UK /nɔːθ/
  • British /noːθ/
  • US /noɹθ/

North has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-north.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with north?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as north (/oɹθ/).

Spelled with the same letters in another order: thorn.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of north

  • norths plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • further north comparative
  • farther north comparative
  • furthest north superlative
  • farthest north superlative
  • northing participle, present
  • northed participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does north mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    The direction towards the pole to the left-hand side of someone facing east, specifically 0°, or (on another celestial object) the direction towards the pole lying on the northern side of the invariable plane.

    Minnesota is in the north of the USA.

  2. 2

    The up or positive direction.

    Stock prices are heading back towards the north.

  3. 3

    The positive or north pole of a magnet, which seeks the magnetic pole near Earth's geographic North Pole (which, for its magnetic properties, is a south pole).

  4. 4

    Alternative letter-case form of North (“a northern region; the inhabitants thereof”).

  5. 5

    In a church: the direction to the left-hand side of a person facing the altar.

adjective

  1. 1

    Of or pertaining to the north; northern.

    He lived in north Germany.

  2. 2

    Toward the north; northward.

    Napoleon ordered Villeneuve north to France.

  3. 3

    Of wind, from the north.

    The north wind was cold.

  4. 4

    Pertaining to the part of a corridor used by northbound traffic.

    north highway 1

  5. 5

    Designating, or situated in, the liturgical north (in a church, the direction to the left-hand side of a person facing the altar).

  6. 6

    colloquialMore or greater than.

    The wedding ended up costing north of $50,000.

adverb

  1. 1

    Toward the north; northward; northerly.

    Switzerland is north of Italy.

verb

  1. 1

    obsoleteTo turn or move toward the north.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate north?

Wiktionary records 4 abbreviations of north: N, N., n, n..

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

North in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchnord, septentrion (compass point)
GermanNorden, Nord (compass point), nördlich (of or pertaining to the north), nordwärts, nordwärtig (toward the north), nord- (meteorology: of wind, from the north)
Portuguesenorte, setentrião (compass point), do norte, nortenho, nortista, setentrional (of or pertaining to the north)
Spanishnorte, septentrión (compass point), norteño, nortino, nord-, nor- (of or pertaining to the north)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does north come from?

From Middle English north, from Old English norþ, from Proto-West Germanic *norþr, from Proto-Germanic *nurþrą, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *nér (“below (the surface)”). The meaning developed either from "region where the sun is below (the earth)" or from "left side of someone who turns to the east when praying".

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after north