Basic Details
Word: East
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: The direction in which the sun rises; it is also used as an adjective (the east wind) and an adverb (travel east).
Antonyms: west
How to Spell East
Syllables: east
Tricky part: The long e sound is spelt ea, and there is no e at the end. Eest and easte are the usual slips.
Watch out for: eest, eist, easte
Memory tip: The sun rises early in the east, and both words begin with ea.
Idioms and Phrases
- East or west, home is best: wherever you travel, your own home is the best place. Example: "After a month abroad, Dadi sighed, 'East or west, home is best.'"
Usage Examples
Example 1: Our classroom windows face east, so the morning sun falls on the front bench.
Example 2: Kolkata lies far to the east of Mumbai.
Example 3: An east wind brought dark clouds over the hills by evening.
Fun Fact
Arunachal Pradesh, in India's far north-east, sees the sunrise before the rest of the country, which is why its name is often explained as the land of the dawn-lit mountains.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Connection
Choose the word opposite in meaning to east as used in the sentence:
From the terrace we watched the full moon rise slowly in the east, over the rooftops of the old town.
a) eastward
b) west
c) orient
d) dawn
Show answer
b) west. West is the opposite point of the compass; orient is another word for the east.
Word Makeup
Choose the correctly spelt compound word:
a) sunflowr
b) eastward
c) footbal
d) lighthowse
Show answer
b) eastward. Flower and ball have each lost a letter and house has a w in place of its u, but eastward is simply east + ward with nothing missing.
Mingle-Mangle
The jumbled letters in the sentence hide a word. Choose it.
The fishermen set out before sunrise and steered their boats aets, towards the rising sun.
a) east
b) teas
c) seat
d) eats
Show answer
a) east. Only east names a direction the boats could steer; seat, eats and teas use the same four letters but make no sense here.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. If you stand facing east, what is on your left?
a) east
b) west
c) north
d) south
Show answer
c) north
2. The saying 'East or west, home is best' means ____.
a) you should travel east first
b) houses should face east
c) west is better than east
d) home is the best place wherever you go
Show answer
d) home is the best place wherever you go
