Compass Point Capitalization

By Judy Vorfeld

Have you ever won­dered when it’s okay to cap­i­tal­ize north, east, south, and west?

Most style guides say that com­pass points and the terms derived from them are low­er­cased if they just mean direc­tion or location.

But you cap­i­tal­ize them when they’re spe­cific regions or an inte­gral part of a proper name.

For exam­ple, you’d say:

• Out West


• Back East


• The west­ern part of the state


• Drive north three miles, then turn east (direction)


• A north­ern winter


• the West Coast (region)


• west coast (shoreline)


• west side of town (direction)

When all is said and done, vari­a­tions are based on con­text and usage. Use these only as guide­lines, not some­thing cast in concrete!

Information from the Chicago Manual of Style and The Gregg Reference Manual.

NOTE: Kudos to PJ Cahill for find­ing a typo and let­ting me know about it. Now this is net­work­ing at its best!