Other forms: westerns
Western means belonging to the side where the sun goes down. Western Europe, the western sky, western values.
Capitalised and applied to countries it means Europe and North America and carries a great deal of politics, since who counts as Western is a claim rather than a location. A western is also a film about the American frontier. Note that the word is Old English and formed from west.
1adjectivewesternBelonging to the west.
“Snow is expected in western parts of the country tonight.”
2nounfilmA film about the American frontier.
“My grandfather loves old westerns with cowboys, horses and gunfights.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
western is a direction, or a film genre.
Old English westerne is west plus an ending. West comes from a root meaning down or evening.
Proto-Germanic
*westrōnijaz
Old English
westerne
Middle English
westerne
English, today
western
From Middle English westerne, from Old English westerne, from Proto-Germanic westrōnijaz. by surface analysis, west + -ern.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA