noun
latitude
The angular distance from a heavenly body's equator to an imaginary parallel circle
Where it comes from
Latitude came through French from Latin latitudo, breadth or width, formed from latus, broad. Longitude likewise came from Latin longitudo, length.
How the meaning developed
Ancient geographers treated the known world's longer east-west span as its length and its shorter north-south span as its breadth. The coordinate measuring north or south therefore inherited the name latitude, while east-west position was longitude.
Sources
- Latitude Definition & Meaning
- American Heritage Dictionary Entry: latitude
- Latitude: Etymology, Origin & Meaning
Definitions adapted from Open English WordNet where applicable. License and attribution. Word-history text comes from Lexifour’s sourced social research; pages are assembled automatically, not individually fact-checked on every update.
Updated 2026-09-25. Report a correction.