right
Meaning
-
- Designating the side of the body which is positioned to the east if one is facing north, the side on which the heart is not located in most humans. This arrow points to the reader's right: →
- Complying with justice, correctness, or reason; correct, just, true. See also the interjection senses below.
- Appropriate, perfectly suitable; fit for purpose.
- Healthy, sane, competent.
- Real; veritable (used emphatically).
- Of an angle, having a size of 90 degrees, or one quarter of a complete rotation; the angle between two perpendicular lines.
- Of a geometric figure, incorporating a right angle between edges, faces, axes, etc.
- Designating the bank of a river (etc.) on one's right when facing downstream (i.e. facing forward while floating with the current); that is, the south bank of a river that flows eastward. If this arrow: ⥴ shows the direction of the current, the tilde is on the right side of the river.
- Designed to be placed or worn outward.
- Pertaining to the political right; conservative.
- All right; not requiring assistance.
- Most favourable or convenient; fortunate.
- Straight, not bent.
Frequency
Pronounced as (IPA)
/ˈɹaɪt/
Etymology
From Middle English right, from Old English riht (“right,” also the word for “straight” and “direct”), from Proto-Germanic *rehtaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵtós (“having moved in a straight line”), from *h₃reǵ- (“to straighten, direct”). An Indo-European past participle, it became a Germanic adjective which has been used also as a noun since the common Germanic period. Cognate with West Frisian rjocht, Dutch recht, German recht and Recht, Swedish rätt and rät, Danish ret, Norwegian Bokmål rett, Norwegian Nynorsk rett, and Icelandic rétt. The Indo-European root is also the source of Ancient Greek ὀρεκτός (orektós) and Latin rēctus; Albanian drejt was borrowed from Latin.
Cognate with Western Frisian
rjocht
Cognate with Dutch
recht
Cognate with German
recht
Cognate with German
Recht
Improve your pronunciation
Start learning English with learnfeliz.
Practice speaking and memorizing "right" and many other words and sentences in English.
Go to our English course page