NYT Dictionary

LEFT

/ˈɫɛft/
AdjectiveAdverbNounVerbLEFTGrade 2

Accepted in official NYT Spelling Bee puzzle years: 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026

Meaning

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: ←

Etymology

Origin: Old English

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”).

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms

sinistersinistralport9 o'clockleft wingleftistsleftfieldleaveleftoverodd

Antonyms

rightdexterdextralarrivecenter

NYT Puzzle Appearances

Accepted in 6 recorded puzzles:

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