sinister

English

WOTD – 31 October 2006    

Alternative forms

• sinistre (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English sinistre (“unlucky”), from Old French sinistra (“left”), from Latin sinestra (“left hand”).

Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /ˈsɪnɪstə/
• (US) IPA: /ˈsɪnɪstər/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Accented on the middle syllable by the older poets, such as Shakespeare, Milton, and Dryden.

Adjective

sinister (comparative more sinister, superlative most sinister)

1. Inauspicious, ominous, unlucky, illegitimate (as in bar sinister).
   • Ben Jonson

     All the several ills that visit earth, / Brought forth by night, with a sinister birth.

   • 1922, Michael Arlen, chapter 1/5/1, “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days^[1]:

     And in the meanwhile, Society shivered a little feverishly, filled now with the scions of those who had come over with the Jewish and American Conquests. Escutcheons were becoming valueless, how sinister soever the blots and clots upon them.

2. Evil or seemingly evil; indicating lurking danger or harm.

   sinister influences

   the sinister atmosphere of the crypt

3. Of the left side.
   • Shakespeare

     Here on his sinister cheek.

   • Shakespeare

     My mother's blood / Runs on the dexter cheek, and this sinister / Bounds in my father's.

   • 1911, Saki, ‘The Unrest-Cure’, The Chronicles of Clovis:

     Before the train had stopped he had decorated his sinister shirt-cuff with the inscription, ‘J. P. Huddle, The Warren, Tilfield, near Slowborough.’

4. (heraldry) On the left side of a shield from the wearer's standpoint, and the right side to the viewer.
5. (obsolete) Wrong, as springing from indirection or obliquity; perverse; dishonest.
   • Francis Bacon

     Nimble and sinister tricks and shifts.

   • South

     He scorns to undermine another's interest by any sinister or inferior arts.

   • Sir Walter Scott

     He read in their looks […] sinister intentions directed particularly toward himself.

Antonyms

• (of the right side): dexter
• (heraldry): dexter

Translations

ominous

• Finnish: pahaenteinen (fi), uhkaava (fi)
• French: sinistre (fr) m and f

• German: sinister (de)
• Russian: зловещий (ru) (zloveščij), злополучный (ru) (zlopolučnyj)

evil

• Arabic: شرير (sherreer) m
• Finnish: paha (fi)
• French: sinistre (fr) m and f
• German: böse (de)
• Hebrew: מרושע (he) (merusha) m, רשע (he) (rasha) m

• Italian: sinistro (it) m
• Malay: jahat (ms)
• Romanian: sinistru (ro)
• Russian: злой (ru) (zloj)
• Spanish: siniestro (es) m

of the left

• Czech: vlevo (cs)
• Finnish: vasemmanpuolinen (fi)
• German: sinister (de), links (de), linksseitig (de)
• Irish: clé (ga)

• Italian: sinistra (it) f
• Russian: находящийся (ru) (naxodjaščijsja) слева (ru) (sleva)
• Spanish: siniestro (es) m
• Telugu: ఎడమ (te) (Eḍama)

heraldic "left"

• French: sénestre (fr)
• German: linker (de) m

• Italian: sinistra (it)
• Spanish: siniestro (es) m, izquierdo (es) m

Related terms

• bend sinister
• sinister aspect
• sinister base
• sinister chief
• sinistral

Anagrams

• resistin

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Dutch

Adjective

sinister (comparative sinisterder, superlative sinisterst)

1. sinister

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Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA: /siˈnis.ter/

Adjective

sinister m (feminine sinistra, neuter sinistrum); first/second declension

1. left
2. improper, adverse
3. inauspicious

Inflection

Number	Singular				Plural
Case \ Gender	M.	F.	N.		MM.	FF.	NN.
nominative	sinister	sinistra	sinistrum		sinistrī	sinistrae	sinistra
genitive	sinistrī	sinistrae	sinistrī		sinistrōrum	sinistrārum	sinistrōrum
dative	sinistrō	sinistrae	sinistrō		sinistrīs	sinistrīs	sinistrīs
accusative	sinistrum	sinistram	sinistrum		sinistrōs	sinistrās	sinistra
ablative	sinistrō	sinistrā	sinistrō		sinistrīs	sinistrīs	sinistrīs
vocative	sinister	sinistra	sinistrum		sinistrī	sinistrae	sinistra

Descendants

• English: sinister
• French: sinistre, senestre (through Old French senestre)
• Galician: sinistro (borrowing)
• Italian: sinistra
• Old Portuguese: sẽestro
• Portuguese: sestro, sinistro (borrowing)
• Romansch: sanester
• Spanish: siniestro