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• southern
  southern

  adjective

  lying toward, situated in, or directed toward the south.
• Southern
  Southern

  noun

  Terry, 1924–95, U.S. novelist and screenwriter.

southern

¹ American  

[suhth-ern] / ˈsʌð ərn /

adjective

1. lying toward, situated in, or directed toward the south.

2. coming from the south, as a wind.

3. of or relating to the south.

4. Southern, of or relating to the South of the United States.

5. Astronomy. Southern, being or located south of the celestial equator or of the zodiac.

   a southern constellation.

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noun

1. Often Southern southerner.

2. Southern, the dialect of English spoken in the eastern parts of Maryland, Virginia, and the Carolinas, in Florida, in the southern parts of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, and in southeastern Texas.

Southern ² American  

[suhth-ern] / ˈsʌð ərn /

noun

1. Terry, 1924–95, U.S. novelist and screenwriter.

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southern ¹ British  

/ ˈsʌðən /

adjective

1. situated in or towards the south

2. (of a wind, etc) coming from the south

3. native to, inhabiting, or growing in the south

4. (sometimes capital) astronomy south of the celestial equator

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Southern ² British  

/ ˈsʌðən /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of the south of a particular region or country

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Etymology

Origin of southern

First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English sūtherne; see south, -ern

Explanation

Southern means from the south, like a southern breeze. But if you call a group of people “y’all,” you might be Southern, a word which refers to the American South and usually gets a capital “S” — and a side of hush puppies. A southern breeze happens when wind is moving from the south to the north, and the Southern Hemisphere is south of the equator. When southern refers to the direction, it’s not capitalized; when it's used in the name of specific place, however, it is capitalized. Southern comes from south, which derives from a Germanic word meaning "sun-side."

Example Sentences

Now, thanks to a two-decade conservation initiative across southern Spain and parts of Portugal, there are an estimated 2,700 Iberian lynx in the wild, making it one of the world’s most miraculous comeback stories.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 30, 2026

The efforts to strike a deal mediated by Pakistan, were thrown into question this week by US strikes on the southern Iranian port of Bandar Abbas countered by retaliatory fire from Iran.

From Barron's • May 30, 2026

Footage analysed by BBC Verify and online by GeoConfirmed open source analysts shows burned-out shells of container lorries and other military vehicles at multiple locations along a key route through southern Ukraine.

From BBC • May 30, 2026

Paleontologists have identified a new species of raptor-like dinosaur that lived about 70 million years ago in what is now southern Patagonia.

From Science Daily • May 29, 2026

Walter’s father was sent to Dachau, a notorious concentration camp in southern Germany, and Walter was promoted in the Hitler Youth.

From "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti