south
/ˈsaʊ̯θ/noun, adjective, adverb, verb
south is spelled S-O-U-T-H. The wrong spelling people search most is sourth: about 20 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 1,000 of all searches for the word. South is a noun meaning “The direction towards the pole to the right-hand side of someone facing east, specifically 180°, or (on…”. The plural of south is souths.
How many letters and syllables are in south?
| Letters | 5: S-O-U-T-H |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 |
| In writing | 251 times per million words; the 387th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, sourth, about 20 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell south?
South is spelled S-O-U-T-H. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 1,012 of the searches for south in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is south?
South appears 251 times per million words in written English, the 387th 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 south?
- US /ˈsaʊ̯θ/
- British /ˈsawθ/
- /ˈsɐʊ̯θ/
South has one syllable.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-south.ogg, En-us-south.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with south?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as south (/aʊθ/).
Spelled with the same letters in another order: shout.
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 south
- souths plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- further south comparative
- farther south comparative
- furthest south superlative
- farthest south superlative
- southing participle, present
- southed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does south mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The direction towards the pole to the right-hand side of someone facing east, specifically 180°, or (on another celestial object) the direction towards the pole lying on the southern side of the invariable plane.
Germany is south of Denmark.
- 2
The southern region or area; the inhabitants thereof.
- 3
In a church: the direction to the right-hand side of a person facing the altar.
- 4
The negative or south pole of a magnet.
adjective
- 1
Toward the south; southward.
- 2
from the south.
- 3
Of or pertaining to the south; southern.
- 4
Pertaining to the part of a corridor used by southbound traffic.
south highway 1
- 5
Designating, or situated in, the liturgical south.
adverb
- 1
Toward the south; southward.
- 2
Downward.
- 3
In an adverse direction or trend.
His fortunes have been going south ever since he was tricked into investing in that ostrich farm.
- 4
Of wind, from the south.
verb
- 1
To turn or move toward the south; to veer toward the south.
- 2
To come to the meridian; to cross the north and south line.
The moon souths at nine.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate south?
Wiktionary records 3 abbreviations of south: S, So., s..
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
South in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | sud, midi , méridional, austral |
| German | Süden, Sied , südlich, süd- , den Bach runter, auf dem absteigen Ast |
| Portuguese | sul , sulista, do sul, meridional, austral , ao sul |
| Spanish | sur, sud, meridión, austro, ostro , del sur |
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 south come from?
From Middle English south, from Old English sūþ, from Proto-West Germanic *sunþr (“southern”), from Proto-Germanic *sunþrą (“south”), from Proto-Indo-European *sóh₂wl̥ (“sun”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).