English

left

/ˈlɛft/
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: ←

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    Origin

    Etymology 1

    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”).

    Etymology 2

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

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • rootProto-Indo-European*lewbʰ- “love, care, desire”
    • inheritedMiddle Englishleft
      • inheritedOld Englishleft
        • derivedProto-Germanic*luft-
      • inheritedOld Englishlæfed

    Related: English lib, Old English lyftādl, West Frisian lobje, Dutch lubben, Scots left, North Frisian lefts, West Frisian lofts, Dutch lucht, Dutch loof, Low German lucht

    Sources