Windward and leeward

Windward is the direction upwind (toward where the wind is coming from) from the point of reference. Leeward is the direction downwind (or downward) from the point of reference. The side of a ship that is towards the leeward is its lee side. If the vessel is heeling under the pressure of the wind, this will be the "lower side". During the age of sail, the term weather was used as a synonym for windward in some contexts, as in the weather gage.

Pronunciation

The traditional nautical pronunciations are the elided forms /ˈljuːərd/ and /ˈwɪnərd/, but this is regarded as old-fashioned. The literal pronunciations, /ˈliːwərd/ and /ˈwɪndwərd/, are more common. The pronunciation for the Leeward and Windward Islands and the Leeward Antilles is normally the latter form.

Origin

The term lee derives from Old English hleo, shelter, and was in use at least as early as 900 AD.

The word aloof is a related term derived from loof, old English for "weather gage" or "windward direction", probably from the Dutch word loef, “the weather side of a ship." Aloof was originally a nautical order to keep the ship's head to the wind, for example to avoid a lee-shore, but it has since taken a figurative meaning of "at a distance, or reserve suggesting consciousness of superiority." It is still in use in German sailors' language as "LUV." Note also the wind-related words loft in English and luft in modern German.