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{{short description|Directions of north, south, east and west}}
{{Redirect|Cardinal point}}
{{More citations needed|date=September 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
[[File:Brosen windrose.svg|thumb|300px|right|A [[compass rose]] showing the four cardinal directions, the four intercardinal directions, and eight more divisions.]]

The four '''cardinal directions''' or '''cardinal points''' are the four main [[compass]] [[Direction (geometry)|directions]]: [[north]] (N), [[east]] (E), [[south]] (S), and [[west]] (W). The corresponding [[azimuth]]s ([[clockwise]] horizontal angle from north) are 0°, 90°, 180°, and 270°.

The four '''ordinal directions''' or '''intercardinal directions''' are northeast (NE), southeast (SE), southwest (SW), and northwest (NW).
The corresponding azimuths are 45°, 135°, 225°, and 315°.

The intermediate direction of every pair of neighboring cardinal and intercardinal directions is called a '''secondary intercardinal direction'''. These eight shortest points in the [[compass rose]] shown to the right are:
# West-northwest (WNW)
# North-northwest (NNW)
# North-northeast (NNE)
# East-northeast (ENE)
# East-southeast (ESE)
# South-southeast (SSE)
# South-southwest (SSW)
# West-southwest (WSW)

Points between the cardinal directions form the [[points of the compass]]. Arbitrary [[horizontal direction]]s may be indicated by their [[azimuth]] angle value.

==Determination==
{{excerpt|Direction determination}}

==Additional points==
{{named absolute bearings}}
{{See also|Points of the compass#Compass points}}

===Azimuth=== 
{{main|Azimuth}}
The directional names are routinely associated with ''azimuths'', the [[angle of rotation]] (in [[degree (angle)|degrees]]) in the [[unit circle]] over the [[horizontal plane]]. It is a necessary step for [[navigation]]al calculations (derived from [[trigonometry]]) and for use with [[Global Positioning System]] (GPS) [[Receiver (radio)|receivers]]. The four cardinal directions correspond to the following degrees of a compass:
* North (N): 0° = 360°
* East (E): 90°
* South (S): 180°
* West (W): 270°

===Intercardinal directions===

The intercardinal (intermediate, or, historically, ordinal<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.geographyrealm.com/cardinal-directions-ordinal-directions/ |title="Ordinal directions refer to the direction found at the point equally between each cardinal direction," ''Cardinal Directions and Ordinal Directions'', geographyrealm.com |date=22 July 2013 |access-date=22 January 2025 }}</ref>) directions are the four intermediate compass directions located halfway between each pair of cardinal directions.
* Northeast (NE), 45°, halfway between north and east, is the opposite of southwest.
* Southeast (SE), 135°, halfway between south and east, is the opposite of northwest.
* Southwest (SW), 225°, halfway between south and west, is the opposite of northeast.
* Northwest (NW), 315°, halfway between north and west, is the opposite of southeast.

===Subintercardinal directions===

The eight above listed directional names have been further compounded known as '''secondary intercardinal directions''', resulting in a total of 16 named points evenly spaced around the compass. But there exist even '''tertiary intercardinal directions''', resulting in a total of 32 named points evenly spaced around the compass: north (N), north by east (NbE), north-northeast (NNE), northeast by north (NEbN), northeast (NE), northeast by east (NEbE), east-northeast (ENE), east by north (EbN), east (E), etc.

==Beyond geography==
''Cardinal directions'' or ''cardinal points'' may sometimes be extended to include [[vertical position]] ([[elevation]], [[altitude]], [[depth (coordinate)|depth]]): [[north]] and [[south]], [[east]] and [[west]], up and down; or mathematically the six directions of the x-, y-, and z-axes in [[three-dimensional space|three-dimensional]] [[Cartesian coordinates]]. [[Topographic map]]s include elevation, typically via [[contour line]]s.
Alternatively, [[elevation angle]] may be combined with cardinal direction (or, more generally, arbitrary azimuth angle) to form a local [[spherical coordinate system]].

===In astronomy===
In [[astronomy]], the ''cardinal points'' of an [[astronomical body]] as seen in the sky are four points defined by the directions toward which the [[celestial pole]]s lie relative to the center of the disk of the object in the sky.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Rigge|first=W. F |title=Partial eclipse of the moon, 1918, June 24|journal=Popular Astronomy|year=1918 |volume= 26|pages=373|bibcode=1918PA.....26..373R|quote=rigge1918}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.petermeadows.com/html/parallactic.html |title=Solar Observing: Parallactic Angle |last1=Meadows |first1=Peter |author2=meadows |access-date=2013-11-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090207002445/http://www.petermeadows.com/html/parallactic.html |archive-date=7 February 2009 |url-status=live }}</ref>
A line (a [[great circle]] on the [[celestial sphere]]) from the center of the disk to the [[North celestial pole]] will intersect the edge of the body (the "[[wikt:limb|limb]]") at the North point. The North point will then be the point on the limb that is closest to the North celestial pole. Similarly, a line from the center to the South celestial pole will define the South point by its intersection with the limb. The points at right angles to the North and South points are the East and West points. Going around the disk clockwise from the North point, one encounters in order the West point, the South point, and then the East point. This is opposite to the order on a terrestrial map because one is looking up instead of down.

Similarly, when describing the location of one astronomical object relative to another, "north" means closer to the North celestial pole, "east" means at a higher [[right ascension]], "south" means closer to the South celestial pole, and "west" means at a lower right ascension. If one is looking at two stars that are below the North Star, for example, the one that is "east" will actually be further to the left.

==Germanic origin of names==
During the [[Migration Period]], the [[Germanic languages|Germanic]] names for the cardinal directions entered the [[Romance languages]], where they replaced the [[Latin]] names ''borealis'' (or ''septentrionalis'') with north, ''australis'' (or ''meridionalis'') with south, ''occidentalis'' with west and ''orientalis'' with east. It is possible that some northern people used the Germanic names for the intermediate directions. Medieval Scandinavian orientation would thus have involved a 45 degree rotation of cardinal directions.<ref>See e.g. Weibull, Lauritz. ''De gamle nordbornas väderstrecksbegrepp''. Scandia 1/1928; Ekblom, R. ''Alfred the Great as Geographer''. Studia Neophilologica 14/1941-2; Ekblom, R. ''Den forntida nordiska orientering och Wulfstans resa till Truso''. Förnvännen. 33/1938; Sköld, Tryggve. ''Isländska väderstreck''. Scripta Islandica. Isländska sällskapets årsbok 16/1965.</ref>
*''north'' ([[Proto-Germanic]] ''*norþ-'') from the [[proto-Indo-European]] *''nórto-s'' 'submerged' from the root *''ner-'' 'left, below, to the left of the rising sun' whence comes the [[Ancient Greek]] name ''[[Nereus]]''.<ref>entries 765-66 of the [[Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch]]</ref>
*''east'' (''*aus-t-'') from the word for [[dawn]]. The proto-Indo-European form is *''austo-s'' from the root *''aues''- 'shine (red)'.<ref name="ReferenceA">entries 86-7 of the [[Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch]]</ref> See ''[[Ēostre]]''.
*''south'' (''*sunþ-''), derived from proto-Indo-European *''sú-n-to-s'' from the root *''seu''- 'seethe, boil'.<ref>entries 914-15 of the [[Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch]]</ref> Cognate with this root is the word ''[[Sun]]'', thus "the region of the Sun".
*''west'' (''*wes-t-'') from a word for "evening". The proto-Indo-European form is *''uestos'' from the root *ues- 'shine (red)',<ref>entries 1173 of the [[Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch]]</ref> itself a form of *''aues''-.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> Cognate with the root are the [[Latin]] words ''[[wikt:vesper|vesper]]'' and ''[[wikt:vesta|vesta]]'' and the [[Ancient Greek]] ''[[Hestia]]'', ''[[Hesperus]]'' and ''[[Hesperides]]''.

==Cultural variations==
In many regions of the world, prevalent winds change direction seasonally, and consequently many cultures associate specific named [[wind]]s with cardinal and intercardinal directions. For example, [[Ancient Greece|classical Greek culture]] characterized these winds as [[Anemoi]].

In [[Modern history#Pre-modern|pre-modern]] Europe more generally, between eight and 32 [[points of the compass]] – cardinal and intercardinal directions – were given names. These often corresponded to the directional winds of the [[Mediterranean Sea]] (for example, southeast was linked to the ''[[Sirocco]]'', a wind from the Sahara).

Particular [[color]]s are associated in some traditions with the cardinal points. These are typically "[[Basic Color Terms|natural colors]]" of human perception rather than optical [[primary color]]s.{{vague|date=December 2016}}

Many cultures, especially in [[Asia]], include the center as a '''fifth cardinal point'''.

===Northern Eurasia===

{| class="wikitable" style="float:right; margin-right:0; margin-left:1em"
!Northern Eurasia !!width="30"| N !!width="30"| E !!width="30"| S !!width="30"| W !!width="30"| C !! Source
|-
| [[Slavic peoples|Slavic]]
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|align="center" | —
|<ref>Ukrainian Soviet Encyclopedic dictionary, Kiev, 1987.</ref>
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| China
|style="background:#000000"|
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| <ref name="ChiTra">
  {{Cite web 
 |url=http://www.colorsystem.com/projekte/engl/63chie.htm 
 |title=Cardinal colors in Chinese tradition 
 |access-date=2007-02-17 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070221184205/http://www.colorsystem.com/projekte/engl/63chie.htm 
 |archive-date=21 February 2007 
 }}</ref><ref name="ChiCo"/><ref name="Nickel2004">{{cite journal |title=Black against white: What color was King Arthur's horse? |author=Helmut Nickel |journal=Arthuriana |volume=14 |number=2 |date=2004 |pages=69–72 |doi=10.1353/art.2004.0089 |jstor=27870606 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27870606|url-access=subscription }} Nickel also claims that at the 201 BC [[battle of Baideng]], [[Modu Chanyu|Mo-tun]]'s cavalry were segregated by color: "red (brown) horses formed the vanguard, blacks the rear, whites the right wing, greys (the closest to blue) the left [... and] in the center of the trap the hapless Chinese emperor, whose sacred color was the Imperial yellow." Nickel cites {{cite journal |author=I.P. Potapov |title=Uber den Pferdekult bei den turksprachigen Volkern des Sajan-Altai-Gebirges |journal=Abhandlungen und Berichte des Staatlichen Museums für Volkerkunde Dresden |volume=34 |date=1975 |page=486}}</ref>
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| [[Ainu people|Ainu]]
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| <ref name="CofD">{{Cite web
  | url = http://sites.google.com/site/colorsofthefourdirections/
  | title = Colors of the Four Directions
  | access-date = 2010-05-16
  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100913042259/http://sites.google.com/site/colorsofthefourdirections/
  | archive-date = 13 September 2010
  | url-status = live
  }}</ref><ref name="McNeill">
  {{cite journal |title=Review: 'Two Studies of Color' by Nancy P. Hickerson |author=Nobuko B. McNeill |journal=International Journal of American Linguistics |volume=48 |number=3 |date=July 1982 |pages=339–342 |doi=10.1086/465744 |jstor=1264798 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1264798 |quote=In Ainu [...] ''siwnin'' means both 'yellow' and 'blue' and ''hu'' means 'green' and 'red'.|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
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| [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]]
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| [[Kalmyk people|Kalmyks]]
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| <ref>Krupp, E. C.: "Beyond the Blue Horizon: Myths and Legends of the Sun, Moon, Stars, and Planets", page 371. Oxford University Press, 1992</ref>
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| [[Tibet]]
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[[Central Asia]]n, [[Eastern Europe]]an and [[North East Asia]]n cultures frequently have traditions associating colors with four or five cardinal points.

Systems with five cardinal points (four directions and the center) include those from [[Dynasties in Chinese history|pre-modern China]], as well as traditional [[Turkic culture|Turkic]], [[Tibetan culture|Tibetan]] and [[Ainu culture|Ainu]] cultures. In Chinese tradition, the five cardinal point system is related to [[I Ching]], the [[Wuxing (Chinese philosophy)|Wu Xing]] and the five [[naked-eye planet]]s. In traditional [[Chinese astrology]], the zodiacal belt is divided into the [[Four Symbols (Chinese constellation)|four constellation groups]] corresponding to the directions.

Each direction is often identified with a color, and (at least in China) with a [[Four Symbols (Chinese constellation)|mythological creature of that color]]. Geographical or ethnic terms may contain the name of the color instead of the name of the corresponding direction.<ref name="ChiTra"/><ref name="ChiCo">{{Cite web |url=http://ignca.nic.in/ps_01005.htm |title=Chinese Cosmogony |access-date=2007-02-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101218044531/http://ignca.nic.in/ps_01005.htm |archive-date=18 December 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

====Examples====
{{Unreferenced section|date=November 2019}}
'''East:''' [[Green]] ([[wikt:青|青]] "qīng" corresponds to both green and blue); Spring; [[Wood (classical element)|Wood]]
:[[Qingdao]] (Tsingtao): "Green Island", a city on the east coast of China
:[[Green Ukraine]]

'''South:''' [[Red]]; Summer; [[Fire (classical element)|Fire]]
:[[Red River (Asia)]]: south of China
:[[Red Ruthenia]]
:[[Red Jews]]: a semi-mythological group of Jews{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}}
:[[Red Croatia]]
:[[Red Sea]]

'''West:''' [[White]]; Autumn; [[Metal (classical element)|Metal]]
:[[Ak Koyunlu|White Sheep Turkmen]]
:[[Akdeniz]], meaning 'White Sea': [[Mediterranean Sea]] in [[Turkish language|Turkish]]
:[[Balts]], [[Baltic languages|Baltic]] words containing the stem ''balt-'' ("white")
:[[Belarus]], meaning 'White Russia'
:[[White Ruthenia]]
:[[White Serbia]]
:[[White Croatia]]

'''North:''' [[Black]]; Winter; [[Water (classical element)|Water]]
:[[Heilongjiang]]: "Black Dragon River" province in [[Northeast China]], also the [[Amur River]]
:[[Kara-Khitan Khanate]]: "Black Khitans" who originated in Northern China
:[[Karadeniz]], literally meaning 'Black Sea': [[Black Sea]] in [[Turkish language|Turkish]]
:[[Black Hungarians]]
:[[Black Ruthenia]]

'''Center:''' [[Yellow]]; [[Earth (classical element)|Earth]]
:[[Huangshan]]: "Yellow Mountain" in central China
:[[Huang He]]: "Yellow River" in central China
:[[Golden Horde]]: "Central Army" of the Mongols

=== Arabic world ===
{{unreferenced|section|date=September 2025}}
Countries where Arabic is used refer to the cardinal directions as {{lang|ar|الشَّمَال}} {{translit|ar|aš-šamāl}} (N), {{lang|ar|الشَّرْق}} {{translit|ar|aš-šarq}} (E), {{lang|ar|الْجَنُوب}} {{translit|ar|al-janūb}} (S), and {{lang|ar|الْغَرْب}} {{translit|ar|al-ḡarb}} (W). Additionally, {{lang|ar|الْوَسَط‎}} {{transl|ar|al-wasaṭ‎}} is used for the center. All five are used for geographic subdivision names (''[[wilayah]]s'', states, regions, governorates, provinces, districts or even towns), and some are the origin of some Southern Iberian place names (such as [[Algarve]], Portugal and [[Axarquía]], Spain).

===North America===
{| class="wikitable" style="float:right; margin-right:0; margin-left:1em"
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| [[Anishinaabe]]
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|<ref>{{cite web |last1=Pitawanakwat |first1=Lillian |title=Ojibwe/Potawatomi (Anishinabe) Teaching |url=https://fourdirectionsteachings.com/transcripts/ojibwe.html |website=Four Directions Teachings |access-date=21 October 2024}}</ref>
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| [[Apache]]
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|<ref>{{cite web |title=Our Language: The Meaning of Our Apache Name "Lipan" |url=https://www.lipanapache.org/LAT/e-name.html |website=Official Website of the Lipan Apache Tribe |publisher=Lipan Apache Tribe |access-date=21 October 2024}}</ref>
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| [[Aztecs]]
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| <ref>{{cite web |title=What was the symbolism of the four directions? |url=https://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/ask-us/what-was-the-symbolism-of-the-four-directions |website=Mexilore |access-date=21 October 2024}}</ref>
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| [[Iowa people|Báxoje]]
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| <ref>{{cite web |title=Colors and Directions |url=https://ioway.nativeweb.org/culture/colors_and_directions.htm |publisher=Ioway Cultural Institute |department=Baxoje, the Ioway Nation |access-date=21 October 2024}}</ref>
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| [[Cherokee]]
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| <ref>{{cite web |title=Sacred Colors |url=https://www.northerncherokeenation.com/sacred-colors.html |website=Northern Cherokee Nation |access-date=21 October 2024}}</ref>
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| [[Cheyenne]]
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| <ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Hodge |editor1-first=Frederick W. |title=The North American Indian: Volume 19 |page=20 |url=http://www.worldwisdom.com/public/viewpdf/default.aspx?article-title=The%20Southern%20Cheyenne.pdf |access-date=21 October 2024 |chapter=The Southern Cheyenne}}</ref>
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| [[Lakota people|Lakota]]
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| <ref>{{cite web |title=Native American Four Directions |url=https://aktalakota.stjo.org/lakota-culture/native-american-four-directions/ |website=Aktá Lakota |publisher=Aktá Lakota Museum & Cultural Center |access-date=21 October 2024}}</ref>
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| [[Maya peoples|Maya]]
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| <ref>{{cite web |last1=Hopkins |first1=Nicholas A. |last2=Josserand |first2=J. Kathryn |title=Directions and Partitions in Maya World View |url=http://www.famsi.org/research/hopkins/DirectionalPartitions.pdf |publisher=Florida State University |access-date=21 October 2024}}</ref>
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| [[Navajo]]
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| <ref>{{cite web |last1=Carey Jr |first1=Harold |title=The Navajo Four Sacred Colors |url=https://navajopeople.org/blog/the-navajo-four-sacred-colors/ |website=Navajo People |access-date=21 October 2024}}</ref>
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| [[Puebloans]]
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| <ref>{{cite book |last1=Roediger |first1=Virginia More |title=Ceremonial Costumes of the Pueblo Indians: Their Evolution, Fabrication, and Significance in the Prayer Drama |date=1991 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley, CA, USA |page=93 |url=https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft8870087s&chunk.id=d0e1699&toc.depth=1&toc.id=d0e1688&brand=ucpress#:~:text=Colors%20were%20related%20to%20the,and%20black%20to%20the%20nadir. |chapter=Color}}</ref>
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| [[Purépecha]]
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In [[Mesoamerica]] and [[North America]], a number of traditional [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|indigenous]] cosmologies include four cardinal directions and a center. Some may also include "above" and "below" as directions, and therefore focus on a cosmology of seven directions. For example, among the [[Hopi]] of the [[Southwestern United States]], the four named cardinal directions are not North, South, East and West but are the four directions associated with the places of sunrise and sunset at the winter and summer solstices.<ref name = "Hopi_Dictionary">{{citation |author=Hopi Dictionary Project (University of Arizona Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology)|year=1998|title=Hopi dictionary: Hopìikwa Lavàytutuveni: A Hopi-English dictionary of the Third Mesa dialect with an English-Hopi finder list and a sketch of Hopi grammar|location=Tucson, Arizona|publisher=[[University of Arizona Press]] | page = 890 | isbn=978-0-8165-1789-3 | quote = '''The cardinal directions''' … are "solstitial" in that places on the horizon of sunrise and sunset on the solstices correlate with these directions: On the summer solstice the sun rises in the northeast, ''hoop'', and sets in the northwest, ''kwiningya''; on the winter solstice the sun rises in the southeast, ''tatkya'', and sets in the southwest, ''taavang''. | url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/hopidictionaryho0000unse}}</ref><ref name = "Hopi_Raum"/><ref>{{Citation | last = Curtis | first = Edward S. | author-link = Edward S. Curtis | editor-last = Hodge | editor-first = Frederick Webb | editor-link = Frederick Webb Hodge | year = 1922 | title = The Hopi | series = The North American Indian | volume = 12 | publisher = The Plimpton Press | publication-place = Norwood, Mass. | page = 246 | url = http://curtis.library.northwestern.edu/curtis/viewPage.cgi?showp=1&size=2&id=nai.12.book.00000333&volume=12#nav | access-date = 23 August 2014 | quote = Hopi orientation corresponds only approximately with ours, their cardinal points being marked by the solstitial rising and setting points of the sun.... Their cardinal points therefore are not mutually equidistant on the horizon and agree roughly with our semi-cardinal points. | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151222155759/http://curtis.library.northwestern.edu/curtis/viewPage.cgi?showp=1&size=2&id=nai.12.book.00000333&volume=12#nav | archive-date = 22 December 2015 | url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{ Citation | last = Fewkes | first = Jesse Walter | author-link = Jesse Walter Fewkes | date = 1897 | title = The Group of Tusayan Ceremonials Called Katcinas | periodical = Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology | volume = 15 | publisher = Government Printing Office | place = Washington, DC | page = 258 | url = https://archive.org/details/tusayankatcinas00fewk/page/258/mode/1up?q=cardinal | accessdate = 22 August 2022 | quote = The names of the four horizon cardinal points are, kwiniwi, northwest; tevyü'ña, southwest; tatyúka, southeast, and hopokyüka (syncopated hópoko), northeast. }}</ref> Each direction may be associated with a color, which can vary widely between nations, but which is usually one of the basic colors found in nature and natural pigments, such as black, red, white, and yellow, with occasional appearances of blue, green, or other hues.<ref>{{Citation | last1 = Anderson | first1 = Kasper Wrem | last2 = Helmke | first2 = Christophe | year = 2013 | title = The Personifications of Celestial Water: The Many Guises of the Storm God in the Pantheon and Cosmology of Teotihuacan | journal = Contributions in New World Archaeology | volume = 5 | pages = 177–179}}</ref> There can be great variety in color symbolism, even among cultures that are close neighbors geographically.

===India===
Ten [[Hindu deities]], known as the "[[Guardians of the directions|Dikpālas]]", have been recognized in classical Indian scriptures, symbolizing the four cardinal and four intercardinal directions with the additional directions of [[zenith|up]] and [[nadir|down]]. Each of the ten directions has its own name in [[Sanskrit]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mahavidya.ca/2016/04/22/the-dikpalas/|title=The Dikpalas|date=22 April 2016|author=H. Rodrigues|website=mahavidya.ca|access-date=12 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180812181751/http://www.mahavidya.ca/2016/04/22/the-dikpalas/|archive-date=12 August 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Indigenous Australia===
Some [[indigenous Australians]] have cardinal directions deeply embedded in their culture. For example, the [[Warlpiri people]] have a cultural philosophy deeply connected to the four cardinal directions<ref>{{cite report |title=Ngurra-kurlu: A way of working with Warlpiri people |last1=Pawu-Kurlpurlurnu |first1=W. J. |last2=Holmes |first2=M. |last3=Box |first3=L. |year=2008 |publisher=Desert Knowledge CRC |location=Alice Springs |volume=41 |isbn=978-1-74158-088-4 |series=DKCRC Report}}</ref>{{page needed|date=September 2025}} and the [[Guugu Yimithirr people]] use cardinal directions rather than [[relative direction]] even when indicating the position of an object close to their body. (For more information, see: [[Body relative direction#Cultures without relative directions|Cultures without relative directions]].)

The precise direction of the cardinal points appears to be important in [[Aboriginal stone arrangement]]s.

Many aboriginal languages contain words for the usual four cardinal directions, but some contain words for 5 or even 6 cardinal directions.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hamacher |first1=Duane. W. |last2=Fuller |first2=Robert. S. |last3=Norris |first3=Ray P. |title=Orientations of linear stone arrangements in New South Wales |journal=Australian Archaeology |date=2012 |volume=75 |issue=1 |pages=46–54 |doi=10.1080/03122417.2012.11681949 |arxiv=1209.0146 |postscript=,}} citing 
{{multiref|1={{cite journal |last=Laughren |first=M. N. |year=1978 |title=Directional Terminology in Warlpiri (A Central Australian Language) |journal=Working Papers in Language and Linguistics |location=Launceston |publisher=Tasmanian College of Advanced Education |volume=8}}
|2={{cite thesis |last=Nash |first=D. G. |title=Topics in Warlpiri Grammar |degree=PhD |publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology |year=1980 |location=Cambridge |hdl=1721.1/15974}}
|3={{cite book |last1=Spencer |first1=W. B. |url=https://archive.org/details/nativetribescen01gillgoog/page/n5/mode/2up |title=The Native Tribes of Central Australia |last2=Gillen |first2=F. J. |publisher=Dover |year=1968 |location=New York |orig-year=1899, London: Macmillan & Co.}}}}</ref>

==Unique (non-compound) names of intercardinal directions==
[[File:Ilmakaared+ilmansuunnat.svg|thumb|250px|right|Cardinal and non-compound intercardinal directions in Estonian and Finnish. Notice the intermixed "south" and "southwest". Further intermixing between directions south and northwest occur in other [[Finnic languages]].]]
In some [[language]]s, such as [[Estonian language|Estonian]], [[Finnish language|Finnish]] and [[Breton language|Breton]], the intercardinal directions have names that are not compounds of the names of the cardinal directions (as, for instance, ''northeast'' is compounded from ''north'' and ''east''). In Estonian, those are ''kirre'' (northeast), ''kagu'' (southeast), ''edel'' (southwest), and ''loe'' (northwest), in Finnish ''koillinen'' (northeast), ''kaakko'' (southeast), ''lounas'' (southwest), and ''luode'' (northwest). In Japanese, there is the interesting situation that native Japanese words ([[yamato kotoba]], kun readings of kanji) are used for the cardinal directions (such as ''minami'' for 南, south), but borrowed Chinese words (on readings of kanji) are used for intercardinal directions (such as ''tō-nan'' for 東南, southeast, lit. "east-south").{{Dubious|date=May 2021|reason=Nan is also used for south in compounds. Isn't it a confusion of the different kanji readings?}} In the [[Malay language]], adding ''laut'' (sea) to either east (''timur'') or west (''barat'') results in northeast or northwest, respectively, whereas adding ''daya'' to west (giving ''barat daya'') results in southwest. Southeast has a special word: ''tenggara''.

Sanskrit and other Indian languages that borrow from it use the names of the [[Guardians of the directions|gods associated with each direction]]: east (Indra), southeast (Agni), south (Yama/Dharma), southwest (Nirrti), west (Varuna), northwest (Vayu), north (Kubera/Heaven) and northeast (Ishana/Shiva). North is associated with the Himalayas and heaven while the south is associated with the underworld or land of the fathers (Pitr loka). The directions are named by adding "disha" to the names of each god or entity: e.g. Indradisha (direction of Indra) or Pitrdisha (direction of the forefathers i.e. south).

The cardinal directions of the [[Hopi language]] are related to the places of sunrise and sunset at the solstices, and correspond approximately to the European intercardinal directions.<ref name = "Hopi_Dictionary"/><ref name = "Hopi_Raum">{{Citation | last = Malotki | first = Ekkehart | author-link = Ekkehart Malotki | year = 1979 | title = Hopi-Raum: Eine sprachwissenschaftliche Analyse der Raumvorstellungen in der Hopi-Sprache | series = Tübinger Beiträge zur Linguistik | volume = 81 | publisher = Gunter Narr Verlag | place = Tübingen | language = de | page = 165, "Die Ausrichtung des Hopi-Kardinalsystems" (The Orientation of the Hopi Cardinal System) | isbn = 3-87808-081-6 }}</ref><ref>{{Citation | last = Stephen | first = Alexander M. | editor-last = Parsons | editor-first = Elsie Clews | editor-link = Elsie Clews Parsons | year = 1936 | title = Hopi Journal of Alexander M. Stephen | series = Columbia University Contributions to Anthropology | volume = 23 | publisher = Columbia University Press | publication-place = New York | pages = 1190–1191 | oclc = 716671864 }}</ref>

==Non-compass directional systems==
Use of the compass directions is common and deeply embedded in [[Culture of Europe|European]] and [[Culture of China|Chinese culture]] (see [[south-pointing chariot]]). Some other cultures make greater use of other referents, such as toward the sea or toward the mountains ([[Hawaii]], [[Bali]]), or upstream and downstream (most notably in ancient [[Upper and Lower Egypt|Egypt]], also in the [[Yurok language|Yurok]] and [[Karuk]] languages). [[Lengo language|Lengo]] (Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands) has four non-compass directions: landward, seaward, upcoast, and downcoast.{{Citation needed|date=November 2007}}

Some languages lack words for [[Body relative direction#Cultures without relative directions|body-relative directions]] such as left/right, and use geographical directions instead.<ref name="nytimes">{{Cite news|author=Deutscher, Guy|author-link=Guy Deutscher (linguist)|date=26 August 2010|title=Does Your Language Shape How You Think?|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/magazine/29language-t.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2|access-date=31 August 2010}}</ref><!-- And try to make clear if upcoast refers to clockwise around an island or counter-clockwise around an island. -->

==See also==
* [[Classical compass winds]] – an early source of cardinal directions
* [[Synesthesia|Cultural synesthesia]]
* [[Elevation]] – the mapping information ignored by the cardinal point system
* [[Geocaching]] – an international hobby
* [[Geographic information system|Geographic Information System (GIS)]]
* [[Latitude]] and [[Longitude]]
* [[List of cartographers]] – famous map makers through history
* [[List of international common standards]]
* [[Magnetic deviation]] – explanation of the slight misalignment of a compass with the Earth's north and south poles
* [[Orienteering]] – an international hobby/sport that depends on knowledge of cardinal directions and how to locate them
* [[Points of the compass]]
* [[Polar coordinate system]]
* [[Uses of trigonometry]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{CandODirections}}
{{Orienteering}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cardinal Direction}}
[[Category:Orientation (geometry)]]