southern

The word “southern” means located in, belonging to, or characteristic of the south. In plain terms, belonging to or typical of the south.

“Southern” is pronounced SUH-thuhn (/ˈsʌðɚn/ in IPA).

Here is “southern” used in a sentence: “They have a distinct southern accent.”

Words with a similar meaning to “southern” include southerly, austral and meridional.

The opposite of “southern” — its antonyms — are northern, boreal and septentrional.

“Southern” is an adjective.

The word “southern” comes from Old English. From Old English sutherne, from Proto-Germanic *sunthronijaz, ultimately related to the root for "sun.".

“Southern” is a very common word in modern English, usually learned at around the B1 level.

Southern describes location or character — where something is or belongs, as in the southern hemisphere or southern cooking. Southerly usually describes direction, especially of wind, and confusingly means coming from the south: a southerly wind blows northward. So southern is mainly about place, while southerly is mostly about the direction of movement.

The opposite of southern is northern. The two adjectives divide the globe and the compass into halves, so a southern region, accent, or climate contrasts with a northern one. For finer directions you also have eastern and western, but northern is the direct counterpart of southern along the north–south axis.

No. As a plain direction word, southern stays lowercase: the southern edge of town, southern winds. It is capitalised only when it forms part of a proper name or a recognised region, such as Southern California or Southern hospitality in the American South. The capitalisation follows the noun it describes.