left

Meaning

1. 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: ←
2. 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.
3. Left-wing; pertaining to the political left.

abandoned

remain

left-hand

left side

remaining

left hand

left hand side

to the left

on the left

the left

left-handed person

what else

wrong way

left alone

continue to exist

left rudder

sinistrous

waste

be abandoned

remain over

gone forth

being on the left

left-hand side

no longer there

be left

not right

Frequency

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈlɛft/

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”), dialectal Dutch loof (“weak, worthless”), Low German lucht (“left”).

Cognate with English

lib

Cognate with Western Frisian

lobje

Cognate with Western Frisian

lofts

Cognate with Dutch

loof

New

leave

<tabs><tab title="Verb"><ol><li>To have a consequence or remnant.</li><li>To have a consequence or remnant.</li><li>To have a consequence or remnant.</li><li>To depart; to separate from.</li><li>To depart; to separate from.</li><li>To depart; to separate from.</li><li>To depart; to separate from.</li><li>To transfer something.</li><li>To transfer something.</li><li>To transfer something.</li><li>(obsolete) To remain (behind); to stay.</li><li>To stop, desist from; to "leave off" (+ noun / gerund).</li></ol></tab><tab title="Noun"><ol><li>The action of the batsman not attempting to play at the ball.</li><li>The arrangement of balls in play that remains after a shot is made (which determines whether the next shooter — who may be either the same player, or an opponent — has good options, or only poor ones).</li></ol></tab><tab title="Noun"><ol><li>Permission to be absent; time away from one's work.</li><li>Permission.</li><li>Farewell, departure.</li></ol></tab></tabs>

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