左

Pattern visualization

Examples

1. 左に銀行があります。▶ —
   There's a bank on the left.
2. 左利きです。▶ —
   I'm left-handed.

Collocations

Mnemonic

左 hidari — onyomi さ; paired with 右, both 左右 and 左翼 grow from this character. The oracle-bone 左 is a left hand and 工 (a tool) — the left hand gripping the helper's tool. Since the right hand was the main hand, the left was the assisting one, so its first sense was "to help" — that root still breathes inside the word 補佐. The directional "left" took the front seat only long afterward.

Quick check

1. How does 補佐 (assistant) etymologically connect to 左?

   • 左 originally meant "auxiliary-hand = to assist", preserved in 佐 (helper/aide)
   • Phonetic coincidence
   • Idiomatic mutation
   • Unrelated