North is the direction a compass needle points, at the top of every map. Head north, the north of England, a north wind.
Magnetic north and true north differ by an angle called declination, which changes with place and year — navigators correct for it. A north wind blows from the north, which is the opposite convention from ocean currents. Note the North, meaning northern England or the northern states; northern lights; and that up north and down south are used about direction on a map rather than about anything actually higher.
1nounnorthThe direction a compass needle points.
“Scotland is to the north of England.”
2nouncountryThe northern part of a country.
“My grandparents live in the north of Italy, near the mountains.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
north is a direction.
Old English north descends from a Proto-Indo-European root that may mean below or to the left — because facing the rising sun puts north on your left. Several direction words are named from that same orientation.
Middle English
north
English, today
north
From Middle English north. From Middle English north, from Old English norþ, from Proto-West Germanic norþr, from Proto-Germanic nurþrą, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European nér (“below (the surface)”). The meaning developed either from "region where the sun is below (the earth)" or from "left side of someone who turns to the east when praying". 2
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA