864: sinister and ambidextrous etc. Apr 20, 2017

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If someone is clumsy she could be described as having two left feet, though someone else nimble or graceful would not be said to have two right feet, at least not commonly and seriously. There are a number of other situations where left- or right-relating words pop up, such as with the adjective 'sinister' meaning 'evil' coming from the Latin for 'left'. For centuries Christians, and other groups, had sinful connotations towards left-handedness which thus giving English that last definition, but one can also see the difference in words like 'ambidextrous' meaning in Latin 'right-handed on both sides (of the body)'. Likewise, 'ambilevous' and 'ambisinistrous'—though fairly rare—mean 'left-handed on both sides', although in this case it denotes clumsiness rather than evil.

For more left- and right-words, click here.

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