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left

Pronunciation: /ˈlɛft/

The English word “left” has 14 meanings listed here.

adjective

  1. Designating the side of the body toward the west when one is facing north; the side of the body on which the heart is located in most humans; the opposite of right. This arrow points to the reader's left: ←
  2. Anticlockwise, particularly when describing a change in direction or orientation.
  3. Designating the bank of a river (etc.) on one's left when facing downstream (i.e. facing forward while floating with the current); that is, the north bank of a river that flows eastward. If this arrow: ⥲ shows the direction of the current, the tilde is on the left side of the river.
  4. Left-wing; pertaining to the political left.
  5. Relating to the beginning or earlier part of a phrase.
  6. leftover, remaining

adverb

  1. On the left side.
  2. Towards the left side.
  3. Towards the political left.

noun

  1. The left side or direction.
  2. The left-wing political parties as a group; citizens holding left-wing views as a group.
  3. The left hand or fist.
  4. A punch delivered with the left fist.
  5. A wave breaking from left to right (viewed from the shore).

Etymology

From Middle English left, luft, leoft, lift, lyft, from Old English left, lyft (“weak, clumsy, foolish”), attested in Old English lyftādl (“palsy, paralysis”), from Proto-Germanic *luft-, from *lubjaną (“to castrate, lop off”) (compare dialectal English lib, West Frisian lobje, Dutch lubben), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)lewp-, *(s)lup- (“hanging limply”). Compare Scots left (“left”), North…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.