# west

> English word · Noun · IPA /wɛst/ · frequency rank #521

## Definitions
1. The direction opposite to that of the earth's rotation, specifically 270°.
2. The western region or area; the inhabitants thereof.
3. In a church: the direction of the gallery, opposite to the altar, and opposite to the direction faced by the priest when celebrating ad orientem.

## Etymology
PIE word
 *wek(ʷ)speros
From Middle English west, from Old English west, from Proto-West Germanic *westr (“western”), from Proto-Germanic *westrą (“west”), from Proto-Germanic *westraz (“west”), from Proto-Indo-European *wek(ʷ)speros (“evening”).
Cognates
Cognate with Scots wast (“west”), North Frisian waast, weest, wäst (“west”), Saterland Frisian Wääste (“west”), West Frisian, Dutch west (“west”), German West (“west”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk vest (“west”), Faroese, Icelandic vestur (“west”), Swedish väst, väster (“west”); also with Irish feascar, feasgar (“evening; vespers”), Cornish gorthugher (“evening”), Manx fastyr (“afternoon, evening; vespers”), Scottish Gaelic feasgar (“afternoon, evening”), Latin vesper (“evening”), Ancient Greek ἕσπερος (hésperos, “evening; western”), Latvian vakars (“evening”), Lithuanian vakaras (“evening”), Czech, Slovak and Slovene večer (“evening”), Kashubian wieczór (“evening”), Polish wieczerz, wieczór (“evening”), Russian вечер (večer, “evening”), Serbo-Croatian вече, вечер, veče, večer (“evening”), Armenian գիշեր (gišer, “night”). Compare also Catalan oest (“west”), French ouest (“west”), Galician oeste, ueste (“west”), Italian ovest (“west”), Portuguese, Spanish oeste (“west”) (all ultimately borrowings of the Old English word).

## Easily confused with
- **wt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/west-vs-wt)
- **WS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/west-vs-ws)
- **wet** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/west-vs-wet)
- **wit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/west-vs-wit)
- **wis** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/west-vs-wis)
- **wot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/west-vs-wot)
- **wut** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/west-vs-wut)
- **WSJ** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/west-vs-wsj)
- **WSU** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/west-vs-wsu)
- **what** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/west-vs-what)
- **wish** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/west-vs-wish)
- **wise** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/west-vs-wise)
- **wont** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/west-vs-wont)
- **woes** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/west-vs-woes)
- **writ** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/west-vs-writ)
- **wilt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/west-vs-wilt)
- **whit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/west-vs-whit)
- **Witt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/west-vs-witt)
- **wort** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/west-vs-wort)
- **wisp** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/west-vs-wisp)

## Common misspellings (6)
`ewst`, `wesst`, `westt`, `wets`, `wset`, `wwest`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/west