• n. 北，北方
• adj. 北方的；朝北的
• adv. 在北方，向北方

來自古英語north,北方，可能來自PIE*ner,下邊，左邊，來自PIE*ni,向下，下方，詞源同beneath,nether.即人面向太陽升起的方向時左手所對應的方位。比較south,詞源同sun.

north

north: [OE] North is a general West and North Germanic word for ‘north’, represented also in German, Swedish, and Danish nord and Dutch noorden. It was also borrowed into French (from Old English) as nord, from where it spread into Italian and Romanian as nord and into Spanish as norte. It is not known for certain where it came from, but a link has been suggested with nertro-, a word for ‘left’ in the extinct Oscan- Umbrian languages of Italy, which might mean that the underlying meaning of north is ‘to the left as one faces the rising sun’ (modern Irish tuaisceart ‘north’ was based on a word meaning ‘left’).

north

Old English nore "northern" (adj.), "northwards" (adv.), from Proto-Germanic *nurtha- (cognates: Old Norse norer, Old Saxon north, Old Frisian north, Middle Dutch nort, Dutch noord, German nord), possibly ultimately from PIE *ner- (1) "left," also "below," as north is to the left when one faces the rising sun (cognates: Sanskrit narakah "hell," Greek enerthen "from beneath," Oscan-Umbrian nertrak "left"). The same notion underlies Old Irish tuath "left; northern;" Arabic shamal "left hand; north." The usual word for "north" in the Romance languages ultimately is from English, for example Old French north (Modern French nord), borrowed from Old English nore; Italian, Spanish norte are borrowed from French.

Ask where's the North? At York 'tis on the Tweed;
In Scotland at the Orcades; and there
At Greenland, Zembla, or the Lord knows where.
[Pope, "Essay on Man"]

As a noun, c. 1200, from the adverb. North Pole attested from mid-15c. (earlier the Arctic pole, late 14c.). North American (n.) first used 1766, by Franklin; as an adjective, from 1770.

1. Two trains collided head-on in north-eastern Germany early this morning.

今天早上德國東北部兩列火車迎面相撞。

來自柯林斯例句

2. The western-most part of north Wales is a stronghold of Welsh-speakers.

北威爾士最西部是說威爾士語人的聚居區。

來自柯林斯例句

3. Go north on I-15 to the exit just past Barstow.

沿著15號州際公路一直向北，一過巴斯托就從出口駛出。

來自柯林斯例句

4. The North has been under Communist rule since 1954.

北方自1954年起就一直處于共產黨的統治之下。

來自柯林斯例句

5. You can go anywhere and still the compass points north or south.

無論走到哪里，羅盤仍然指向北或南。

來自柯林斯例句