Kamar yadda a cikin wasu harsuna, kalmar ta samo asali ne daga gaskiyar cewa gabas ita ce shugabanci inda Rana ta fito:gabas ya fito ne daga Tsakiyar Ingilishiest, daga Tsohon Turancieast, wanda kanta ya fito daga Proto-Germanic *aus-to- ko *austra- "gabas, zuwa fitowar rana",[1] daga Proto-Indo-Turai * aus- "don haskakawa," ko "alfijir", ya haɗu da Tsohon Babban Jamusanci* ostar "zuwa gabas",Latinaurora 'alfijir', da Girkanciἠώς 'Alfijir, gabas'.[2] Misalan samuwar iri ɗaya a cikin wasu harsuna sun haɗa da gabas naLatin 'gabas, fitowar rana' daga orior 'zuwa tashi, zuwa asali', Greek ανατολή anatolé 'gabas' daga ἀνατέλλω 'tashi' da Ibrananci מִזְרָח mizraḥraḥraḥraḥ tashi, to haskaka'.Ēostre, allahiya na alfijir na Jamus, mai yiwuwa ya zama ainihin alfijir da maki na musamman.
Ta al'ada, gefen hannun dama na taswira yana gabas. Wannan yarjejeniya ta samo asali ne daga amfani da kamfas, wanda ke sanya arewa a saman. Koyaya, akan taswirar taurari kamar Venus da Uranus waɗanda ke jujjuya koma baya, gefen hagu yana gabas.[ana buƙatar hujja]
Don tafiya gabas ta amfani da kamfas don kewayawa, mutum yana saita ma'auni ko azimuth na 90°.
Gabas ita ce alƙiblar daduniya ke juyawa game da kusurwoyinta, don haka gaba daya alƙiblar daRana ke bayyana ta fito. Al'adar yin addu'a zuwa gabas ta girmiKiristanci, amma wannan addinin ya karɓe shi kamar yadda ake tunanin Gabas yana ɗauke da asalin ɗan adam. Don haka, wasu majami'u na Kirista sun kasance bisa al'ada zuwa gabas.[3][4]
Gabas ita ce bisa ga al'ada ta ƙunshi duk wani abu da ke na Gabashin Duniya, dangane da Turai. A cikin Ingilishi, galibi ma'anarta ce ga, kuma tana nufin yanki ɗaya da, nahiyar Asiya, zuwa Gabas mai Nisa,Gabas ta Tsakiya, da Gabas ta Tsakiya . Duk da wannan asalin Eurocentric, waɗannan yankuna har yanzu suna gabas da cibiyar Geographical na Duniya.
A cikin kowane birni, ƙarshen gabas yawanci ya fi talauci saboda iskar da ke kaɗawa daga yamma.[5]
