The names of the winds mainly reflect their geographical origin and have been used since ancient times. The Wind Rose is the graphic tool used by meteorologists to give a succinct view of how wind speed and their direction: for the ancient Greeks the Wind Rose was centred on the island of Zakynthos, while for the Roman tradition it lays in the center of the Mediterranean, near Malta.

The Beaufort wind force scale is an empirical measure that relates wind speed to observed conditions at sea or on land.