Tuesday, October 20, 2020

Points of the Compass in Finnish

The points of the compass can be divided into four cardinal directions: north, south, west and east. These can be further divided into four ordinal directions: northwest, northeast, southwest and southeast. However, in Finnish the ordinal directions are not expressed with combinations of the cardinal directions. They are expressed with completely different words.

Here are the points of the compass in Finnish:

  • north pohjoinen
  • south etelä
  • west länsi
  • east itä
  • northwest luode
  • northeast koillinen
  • southwest lounas
  • southeast kaakko
In Finnish the ordinal directions are very different from the cardinal ones. They are not compounds. Another language with separate words for both cardinal and ordinal directions is Estonian, a language closely related to Finnish.




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