How do you pronounce left?

The recorded pronunciation is /ˈɫɛft/.

Where does left come from?

It is traced to Middle English.

left

/ˈɫɛft/

Word Rarity Common

Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.62 in modern English

Syllables: left
IPA: /ˈɫɛft/

Scrabble Score

Letters

Syllables

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

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: ←

adj

Anticlockwise, particularly when describing a change in direction or orientation.

adj

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.

adj

Left-wing; pertaining to the political left.

adj

Relating to the beginning or earlier part of a phrase.

adv

On the left side.

adv

Towards the left side.

adv

Towards the political left.

Example Sentences

"Near-synonym: port"
"The left side."
"The road up ahead contains a left bend."
"Rotate the bolt to the left to loosen it."
"The Eiffel Tower is on the left bank of the Seine."
"The following dispatch has been received from Viceroy Alexieff, dated Mukden, March 22: “Gen. Mitchenkow reports that on March 17 our scouts approached Anju and observed on the left bank of the Ching Chong river, opposite Anju, retrenchments made by the enemy."

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 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”).

Origin

Source language: Middle English

Word Breakdown

Root: *lewbʰ-, left, *luft-, *(s)lewp-, læfed, levit

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ˈɫɛft/
British English: /ˈlɛft/

Inflected Forms

further left (comparative) farther left (comparative) more left (comparative) lefter (comparative) furthest left (superlative) farthest left (superlative) most left (superlative) leftmost (superlative) leftest (superlative) lefts (plural) the Left (canonical)

Derived Forms

aleft escalefter lefteous leftern leftfield lefthanded leftie leftmost Leftpondia leftward leftwards leftwise

Phrases

allemande left audience left flush left flush left and right give one's left nut go left hard-left house left

Synonyms

sinister sinistral port 9 o'clock left wing leftists leftover left over odd remaining unexpended

Antonyms

right dexter dextral

Rhymes With

theft cleft deft bereft heft tefft antitheft kreft eft weft effed reft