On or toward the side of your body where your heart is, opposite to the right side. It can also mean the part or direction on that side of something.
From Old English *lyft* meaning “weak or foolish,” which later became the word for the non-dominant hand for most people. It is related to Old Norse *lupptr* (weak), showing how the ‘other hand’ was seen as weaker.
The word for “left” in many languages is connected to ideas of weakness, clumsiness, or even bad luck. This shows how right-handedness shaped culture so strongly it even colored basic direction words.
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