north-east

adj

"north-east" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“north-east” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
10
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Alternative form of northeast.

Corpus desk

Index EN-north-east · north-east · English

north-east · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "N" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for north-east
PropertyValue
Headwordnorth-east
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
Letters10
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “north-east” in English

north-eastsits beyond the 100,000 most-frequent English words, in the long tail of technical, archaic, or otherwise rare vocabulary where spelling doubt tends to strike hardest.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

north-east is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Alternative form of northeast.".

north-east doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct English form is north-east, spelled N-O-R-T-H---E-A-S-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Alternative form of northeast.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how north-east appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Coal is found in several places along the Hun-chiang on the north-east of Tʻung-hua.
  2. Gervasius and Borodijin rode on to reconnoitre. As my caravan entered the strip of pasture fringing the shore I saw my people in conversation with Sarts by a yurt at the north-east corner of the lake. They soon returned with the information that the whole neighbourhood, which included Kala Otlak and Bulag Bashi, was known as Dakherukta. There was no tura,…

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "north-east"?
"north-east" is spelled N-O-R-T-H---E-A-S-T.
What does "north-east" mean?
As an adjective, "north-east" means: Alternative form of northeast.
What language does "north-east" come from?
"north-east" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list