The directional names are routinely associated with azimuths, the angle of rotation (in degrees) in the unit circle over the
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Cardinal directions or cardinal points may sometimes be extended to include vertical position (elevation, altitude, depth): north and south, east and west, up and down; or mathematically the six directions of the x-, y-, and z-a… See more

During the Migration Period, the Germanic names for the cardinal directions entered the Romance languages, where they replaced the Latin names borealis (or septentrionalis) with north, australis (or meridionali… See more

In many regions of the world, prevalent winds change direction seasonally, and consequently many cultures associate specific named winds with cardinal and intercardinal directions. For example, classical Gr… See more

In some languages, such as Estonian, Finnish and Breton, the intercardinal directions have names that are not compounds of the names of the cardinal directions (as, for instance, northeast is compound… See more

Use of the compass directions is common and deeply embedded in European and Chinese culture (see south-pointing chariot). Some other cultures make greater use of other referents, such as toward the sea or toward the … See more

• Azimuth
• Classical compass winds – an early source of cardinal directions
• Cultural synesthesia
• Elevation – the mapping information ignored by the cardinal point system… See more