Northeast is the direction halfway between north and east. Head northeast, the northeast coast, a northeast wind.
A northeast wind in Britain is a cold one, coming off the North Sea, and it has its own local names on the east coast. As with all the compass points, the wind is named for where it comes from rather than where it goes.
1nounnortheastThe direction halfway between north and east.
“The storm is moving towards the northeast and should reach the coast by morning.”
northeast is a direction.
Old English northeast is simply north plus east. All four intermediate points were named this way.
Old English
norþēast
Middle English
northest
English, today
northeast
From Middle English northest, from Old English norþēast, equivalent to north + east.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA