left

Pronunciation

• IPA: /left/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English left, lift, luft,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English left (“weak, worthless”), a Kentish form of lyft-, found in lyftādl (“paralysis, palsy, literally weak disease”).^[5][2][6][7] The Kentish word glosses Latin inānis (“empty, weak”).^[8][9] Its cognates in the sense “weak, worthless” are East Frisian luf and Dutch dialect loof, and in the sense “left” Middle Dutch lucht, luft and Middle Low German lucht.^[6][10][5] The ultimate origin is unknown;^[6][10] Barnhart derives it from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leup-,^[11] and Klein thinks it probably not connected with Ancient Greek λεπρός (leprós, “scaly”) (see leper), which Partridge proposes.^[12][13] The usual Old English word for “left” was winestra, literally “friendlier”, a euphemism used to avoid invoking the unlucky forces linked with the left side;^[5] Etymonline suggests left itself may have begun as a taboo replacement.^[5] The adjective left “remaining” is the past participle of leave.^[14][15][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of the hand that is usually the weaker, and of that side of the body (about 1200, in Layamon's Brut).^[11][16]

Semantic evolution

The sense “left, as opposed to right” comes from the left hand being the weaker in most people, a development also found in the related Dutch and Low German words.^[5][8][2] Old English left meant only “weak”, a sense not found after Old English.^[6] Weekley compares the converse development of French gauche “left; awkward” and German linkisch “awkward”, from link “left”.^[7] From the mid-15th century left was proverbially used for “the opposite of what is said”, as in over the left shoulder, “not at all”.^[5][16] From about 1600 it was used in senses of “irregular, illicit”.^[5] In a left-handed (morganatic) marriage the bridegroom gave his left hand to the bride.^[7] The political sense comes from the custom in the French National Assembly of 1789, in which the nobles sat in the place of honour on the President's right and the Third Estate on his left;^[11][17][5] it is first recorded in English in Carlyle's The French Revolution (1837), probably translating French la gauche (1791),^[11][5] and became general in American and British politics about 1900.^[5] In American slang to get left, “to be left behind, lose out”, dates from 1882.^[18] In baseball left field gave the American out of left field, “unexpected, unconventional”.^[17]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – lift, luft, of the weaker hand; as a noun, the left side.^[11][5]
• before 1325 – the spelling left; as an adverb.^[2]
• mid-15th century – over the left (shoulder), not at all.^[5][16]
• 1675 – a road or turn to the left.^[19]
• 1693 – the left wing of an army.^[19]
• 1794 – political sense, adjective.^[19]
• 1806 – a punch with the left hand.^[19]
• 1837 – the Left in politics, in Carlyle.^[11][5]
• 1882 – get left (US slang).^[18]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Of, on or towards the side of the body that is to the west when one faces north, where the heart mostly lies.
2. Located on the left of a person facing downstream: the left bank.
3. Of or belonging to the political left.

Noun

1. The left side, direction or position; a left turn: take a left.
2. The left hand, or a blow with the left fist.
3. (often the Left) Those who favour liberal or radical reform, especially in politics; their opinions.

Adverb

1. On or towards the left.

Verb

1. Past tense and past participle of leave.

Word family

• leftmost
• left-hand
• left-handed
• leftie
• leftward
• antileft
• leftish
• ultraleft

Related words

• leave
• sinister
• gauche
• leftist
• right

Usage notes

Folklore treats the left as unlucky, ominous and less honourable than the right, a tradition going back to the classical world and to the Last Judgement, where the damned are sent to the left.^[20][21]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
8. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
12. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
13. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
14. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
15. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
16. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
17. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
18. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
19. ^ a b c d Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
20. ^ Simpson, Jacqueline; Roud, Steve (2000), A Dictionary of English Folklore, Oxford: Oxford University Press
21. ^ Brewer, E. Cobham (1898), Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, new ed., London: Cassell