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The Learning Kingdom's Cool Word of the Day for March 16, 1999
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sinister [adj. SIN-i-ster]
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This is a followup to yesterday's "ambidextrous". Sinister means evil
or containing an evil threat. A person can be sinister or have
sinister plans.
This word has a surprising origin -- "sinister" is the Latin word for
"left". Throughout history, many people considered the left side to
be evil or unlucky (in Latin, "sinister" also meant unlucky), and the
right side to be good. Left-handedness itself was considered a
malady, and until recently it was common for teachers to require
left-handed children to use their right hands in an effort to "cure"
them.
Similarly, in English the word right -- meaning right side -- is the
same as the word right -- meaning correct or fitting, as in "right
answer" and "legal right." This is also true in many other languages;
examples include French (droit), Spanish (derecho), and Russian
(pravo).
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