Leeward

The basic meaning of the noun and adjective leeward is 'in the direction towards which the wind is blowing', 'downwind of'. (See also -ward - -wards.) The opposite direction is called windward. Although it is usually pronounced, in RP, more or less as it looks ('LEE-words', with the '-ee-' as in 'see' (IPA: /ˈliː wə (or ɔː)^rdz/), there is a common pronunciation in nautical circles that makes the first syllable 'loo-' (or 'lyoo-') and reduces the second vowel to schwa, eliding the '-w-': 'LOO-erds', /ˈluː wə (or ɔː)^rdz/. This is said to be becoming obsolete in American English.

• • The form leewards (with the '-s') is obsolete.

The root is lee, 'shelter'. Hence campers may be advised to pitch their tents in the lee of a windbreak, such as a wood, and a ship may anchor during a storm under the lee of a cliff. This sometimes has figurative implications in ordinary speech.

You may also like to see AWE's article on the suffix -ward (or -wards).

• • The Leeward Islands are a sub-group of the Lesser Antilles, the more southerly and easterly of the Caribbean Islands that form the West Indies. The Leeward Islands include the US and British Virgin Islands, Guadaloupe, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Montserrat, St Kitts-Nevis, and St Martin. For more, see Leeward Islands.