Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
⚾ A left-handed pitcher ✋ A left-handed person
left-hander

left-hander

3 3.5
A person who uses their left hand more than their right, often for writing
  • noun
  • /ˈlɛftˌhændər/
translation icon : zurdo
  • In Game 1, the Giants left-hander Madison Bumgarner will face the Cardinals' Lance Lynn, who was last seen allowing the homer to Jayson Werth that ended Game 4 in Washington.
  • year-old left-hander
  • old left-hander
  • rookie left-hander

Examples

  • The left-hander has since gotten back on track, being scored upon twice in his last 13 appearances (12.1 innings).

    Blog text (33)

  • Oh, he was a left-hander.

    French Connection II (1975)

  • The left-hander has been pitching without pain in his right hip while making his final three starts of 2012.

    Blog text (9)

  • Bucek, the big Chicago left-hander, winds, fires...

    Major League II (1994)

  • The veteran left-hander returns in tonight's series opener against the Blue Jays.

    Blog text (11)

  • He was also looking to become the first left-hander to win the Kremlin Cup title since Goran Ivanisevic (d. Kafelnikov) in 1996.

    Blog text (4)

  • As a left-hander, she often struggled to find scissors designed for her needs.

  • John is a left-hander, so he writes with his left hand while using his right for other tasks.

  • Many famous artists, like Leonardo da Vinci, were left-handers who created remarkable works.

Synonyms

lefty
vsleft-hander
  • Informal
60 8.2

A person who uses their left hand more than their right, often a baseball pitcher

is the neutral descriptive term without informal tone
southpaw
vsleft-hander
  • Jargon
12 8.7

A person who uses their left hand in sports like boxing or baseball

is the general descriptive term used in many contexts not only sports

Antonyms

right-hander
1 3.4

A person who mainly uses their right hand for tasks

How Left-Handed

left-hander
3 3.5
ambidextrous
7 7.5
right-hander
1 3.4

Surface Forms

left-hander singular
left-handers plural

Morphology

left-hander = left-hand (transparent) = left + hand + er

Formed from the compound 'left-hand' plus the agentive suffix '-er'; meaning (a person who uses the left hand) is directly deducible.

Etymology

The word left-hander is made from left ('on the left side') and hand ('the body part'), with -er meaning 'a person'. So a left-hander is someone who uses their left hand more skillfully than their right.