southwest

• south-west
• sou'-west

From Middle English southwest, southewest, from Old English sūþwest and sūþanwestan, equivalent to south +‎ west. Cognate with West Frisian súdwest, Dutch zuidwest, German Südwesten, Danish sydvest, Swedish sydväst.

• IPA^(key): /saʊθˈwɛst/
• (nautical, dialectal) IPA^(key): /saʊˈwɛst/

southwest (usually uncountable, plural southwests)

1. The compass point halfway between south and west, specifically 225°, abbreviated as SW.
   • 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter IV, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 731476803:

     So this was my future home, I thought! […] Backed by towering hills, the but faintly discernible purple line of the French boundary off to the southwest, a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.

• (compass point): northeast, northwest, southeast

• southwest by south
• southwest by west

southwest (not comparable)

1. Of or pertaining to the southwest; southwestern.
2. Towards the southwest, southwestwards, southwestern.
3. From the southwest, southwesterly