Right and left: sağ ve sol

Because like I tell my daughter, by now we should know our right from our left:

  • Right: sağ, which has a separate meaning as “alive” and “well” (it’s in that context that you might remember this word, since it can also be used to say “thank you”)
  • Left: sol
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Points of the compass: pusula noktaları

The Turkish word for “compass” is pusula, presumably from the Italian bussola or maybe from Italian via Arabic. “Points” is noktaları (singular nokta), also from Arabic. Here are the main directions (yön, plural yönleri) on the compass:

  • north: kuzey
  • south: güney
  • east: doğu
  • west: batı

These can be combined to form the derivative compass points:

  • northeast: kuzeydoğu
  • northwest: kuzeybatı
  • southwest: güneybatı
  • southeast: güneydoğu

FYI, since it’s relevant to our topic and our language, in Turkish “the Middle East” is Orta Doğu.