vadaku

Vadaku is the romanized form of the Tamil word வடக்கு, meaning "north" or "northern." In Tamil-language usage, vadakku functions as a directional descriptor and is widely used in geographic and administrative contexts to designate the northern part of a place.

It appears in toponyms, signs, and descriptive texts to distinguish northern areas from southern or other parts of the same region. In Tamil-speaking contexts, combinations involving vadakku are common in describing district or city subdivisions, neighborhoods, and regional designations that lie to the north.

The spelling is variably transliterated as vadakku, vadakk-u, or other forms, reflecting different transliteration practices from Tamil to the Latin alphabet. Outside of standard Tamil usage, vadaku may also occur as a proper noun in transliterated terms, but there is no single widely recognized entity by that spelling in major reference works. For related information, see Tamil language, geography of Tamil Nadu and general concepts of toponymy.