leeward
/ˈliwɚd/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.66 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
On the side sheltered from the wind; in that direction.
Example Sentences
- "Some hours after midnight, the Typhoon abated so much, that through the strenuous exertions of Starbuck and Stubb—one engaged forward and the other aft—the shivered remnants of the jib and fore and main-top-sails were cut adrift from the spars, and went eddying away to leeward, like the feathers of an albatross, which sometimes are cast to the winds when that storm-tossed bird is on the wing."
- "No lady goat is safe from criminal assault, even on the Sabbath Day, when there is a genteman goat within three miles to leeward of her and nothing in the way but a fence fourteen feet high[…]"
Etymology
Etymology tree Middle English lee English lee Proto-Indo-European *wert-der. Proto-Germanic *wardaz Old English -weard English -ward English leeward From lee (“side away from the wind”) + -ward (“direction”).
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈliwɚd/
- British English: /ˈliːwəd/