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sinistra

left

noun see-NEES-trah Common
Travel & Places Directions

Origin: Latin sinistra (left hand), which also carried the sense of 'inauspicious'

Also means

left wing (politics)

Usage Note

Sinistra functions as a feminine noun ('the left') and as a feminine adjective ('left-hand'). Girare a sinistra means 'turn left'. In politics la sinistra refers to the political left. The adjective form is sinistro/a, and in a figurative register sinistro can mean 'sinister' — a meaning it shares with English, inherited from Latin superstition about the left hand.

Examples

"Gira a sinistra al semaforo."

Natural Translation

Turn left at the traffic light.

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