Etymology

left

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Today it means: 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: ← Full definition →

Middle English left ← Old English left ← Proto-Germanic *luft-
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left · adjective, adverb, noun1

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*(s)lewp-
  2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*luft-
  3. Old English · inherited fromleft
  4. Middle English · inherited fromleft
  5. English todayleft

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 Frisian lefts, leeft, leefts (“left”), West Frisian lofts (“left”), obsolete Dutch lucht, leftsch, lefts, lefs (“left”), dialectal Dutch loof (“weak, worthless”), archaic Low German lucht (“left”).

left · verb, adjective2

  1. Old English · inherited fromlǣfed, ġelǣfed
  2. Middle English · inherited fromleft
  3. English todayleft

From Middle English left, variant of laft (“remaining, left”), from Old English lǣfed, ġelǣfed, past participle of lǣfan (“to leave”). More at leave.

left · verb3

  1. Old English · derived fromġelȳfan
  2. Old English · inherited fromġelȳfd
  3. Middle English · inherited fromlevit
  4. English todayleft

From Middle English levit, ilevet, y-levyd, from Old English ġelȳfd, ġelȳfed, past participle of Old English ġelȳfan, lȳfan (“to allow, permit”), equivalent to leave (“to give leave to, allow, grant, permit”) + -ed.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.