Etymology

levorotatory

L1E1V4O1R1O1T1A1T1O1R1Y4

Today it means: (of an optically active compound or crystal) That rotates the plane of polarized light to the left, or counter-clockwise. Notation: (−) or formerly lowercase l-. Full definition →

English rotatory ← Latin laevus ← Proto-Indo-European *leh₂iwos
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*leh₂iwos
  2. Latinlaevus
  3. Englishlevo-
  4. Englishrotatory
  5. English todaylevorotatory

From levo- + rotatory.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.