Meanings
alternative lefthanded
- not comparableUsing one's left hand in preference to, or more skillfully than, one's right.
- not comparableTurning or spiraling from right to left; anticlockwise.
- not comparableInsincere or malicious.
The commendations of this people are not always […]left-handed and detractive.
1824, Walter Savage Landor, “Aeschines and Phocion”, in Imaginary Conversations of Literary Men and Statesmen, volume I, London: […] Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC - not comparablehuman sciencesPerformed with the intention of doing harm or in transgression against convention or taboo; following the left-hand path
On the other hand, nearly all magic tends in time to the left-handed path; as being a devious means of attaining desires unobtainable by ordinary methods.
1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 23 - not comparableOf a coordinate system: not following the right-hand rule.
alternative lefthanded
- pluralplural onlyLeft-handed people, taken as a whole.
Evidence contradicting this principle came from a study of epileptic patients by Penfield and Roberts (1959) who found that dysphasia following surgery on the right hemisphere was not significantly more frequent in the left-handed than in the right-handed.
1992, Antonio E. Puente, Robert J. McCaffrey, Handbook of Neuropsychological Assessment, →ISBN, page 147
Synonyms & antonyms
More synonyms by meaning
adjectiveusing or intended for the left hand
adjective(of marriages) illicit or informal
adjective(of marriages) of a marriage between one of royal or noble birth and one of lower rank; valid but with the understanding that the rank of the inferior remains unchanged and offspring do not succeed to titles or property of the superior
adjectiverotating to the left
adjectiveironically ambiguous
adjectivelacking physical movement skills, especially with the hands
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishleft handyd
- Englishleft-handed
From Middle English left handyd, lyfthonded, equivalent to left + handed.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic أَيْسَر, أَعْسَر
- أَيْسَر (ʔaysar)preferring the left hand over the right
- أَعْسَر (ʔaʕsar)preferring the left hand over the right
- أَشْوَل (ʔašwal)preferring the left hand over the right
Basque ezkerti
- ezkertipreferring the left hand over the right
Bulgarian левичар
- левичар (levičar)preferring the left hand over the right
Catalan esquerrà
- esquerràpreferring the left hand over the right
Chinese Mandarin 左利手, 左撇子
- 左利手 (zuǒlìshǒu)preferring the left hand over the right
- 左撇子 (zuǒpiězi)preferring the left hand over the right
Czech levoruký, levácký
- levorukýpreferring the left hand over the right
- leváckýpreferring the left hand over the right
Danish kejthåndet, venstrehåndet
- kejthåndetpreferring the left hand over the right
- venstrehåndetpreferring the left hand over the right
Dutch linkshandig
- linkshandigpreferring the left hand over the right
Finnish vasenkätinen
- vasenkätinenpreferring the left hand over the right
French gaucher
- gaucherpreferring the left hand over the right
German linkshändig
- linkshändigpreferring the left hand over the right
Greek αριστερόχειρας
- αριστερόχειρας (aristerócheiras)preferring the left hand over the right
Hebrew שמאלי, אִטֵּר
- שמאלי (smalí)preferring the left hand over the right
- אִטֵּר (itér)preferring the left hand over the right
Hindi बाएँ हत्था
- बाएँ हत्था (bāẽ hatthā)preferring the left hand over the right
Hungarian balkezes
- balkezespreferring the left hand over the right
Icelandic örvhentur
- örvhenturpreferring the left hand over the right
Indonesian kidal
- kidalpreferring the left hand over the right
Irish ciotach
- ciotachpreferring the left hand over the right
Italian mancino
- mancinopreferring the left hand over the right
Japanese 左利き
- 左利き (hidarikiki)preferring the left hand over the right
Korean 왼손잡이
- 왼손잡이 (oensonjabi)preferring the left hand over the right
Lithuanian kairiarankis
- kairiarankispreferring the left hand over the right
Malay kidal
- kidalpreferring the left hand over the right
Māori hemarehe
- hemarehepreferring the left hand over the right
Norwegian Bokmål venstrehendt, keivhendt
- venstrehendtpreferring the left hand over the right
- keivhendtpreferring the left hand over the right
Polish leworęczny, leworęki
- leworęcznypreferring the left hand over the right
- leworękipreferring the left hand over the right
Portuguese canhoto, sestro
- canhotopreferring the left hand over the right
- sestropreferring the left hand over the right
Romanian stângaci
- stângacipreferring the left hand over the right
Russian левору́кий
- левору́кий (levorúkij)preferring the left hand over the right
Scottish Gaelic ceàrr-làmhach, clì-làmhach
- ceàrr-làmhachpreferring the left hand over the right
- clì-làmhachpreferring the left hand over the right
- leis a' chearragpreferring the left hand over the right
- cearragachpreferring the left hand over the right
Slovak ľavoruký
- ľavorukýpreferring the left hand over the right
Spanish zurdo, zoco
- zurdopreferring the left hand over the right
- zocopreferring the left hand over the right
- zocatopreferring the left hand over the right
- ñurdopreferring the left hand over the right
Swedish vänsterhänt
- vänsterhäntpreferring the left hand over the right
Tagalog kaliwete
- kaliwetepreferring the left hand over the right
Turkish solak
- solakpreferring the left hand over the right
Ukrainian лівору́кий
- лівору́кий (livorúkyj)preferring the left hand over the right
Welsh llawchwith
- llawchwithpreferring the left hand over the right
Yiddish געלינקט
- געלינקט (gelinkt)preferring the left hand over the right
Cite this entry
left-handed. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/left-handed
“left-handed.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/left-handed. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “left-handed,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/left-handed.
Source: left-handed on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.