southpaw

English

WOTD – 30 September 2006

Etymology

From south +‎ paw.

This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term. Needs some information about why this combination was chosen in this meaning. Why is south left?

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsaʊθˌpɔː/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˈsaʊθˌpɑ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊθpɔː, -aʊθpɑ

Noun

southpaw (plural southpaws)

1. (informal, idiomatic) One who is left-handed, especially in sports.
   1. (baseball) A left-handed pitcher.

      Since home plate is generally in the southwest corner to avoid glare in the batter's eyes, a southpaw's pitching hand is to the south.

2. A boxer who leads with the right hand and guards with the left

Synonyms

• (one who is left-handed): left-hander, lefty

Translations

informal: one who is left-handed

• Bashkir: һулаҡай (hulaqay)
• Basque: ezkerti (eu)
• Finnish: vasuri (fi)
• French: gaucher (fr) m, gauchère (fr) f
• German: Linkshänder (de) m, Linkshänderin (de) f
• Japanese: 左利き (ja) (ひだりきき, hidarikiki)
• Polish: mańkut (pl) m, leworęczny (pl) m
• Portuguese: canhoteiro m
• Russian: левша́ (ru) m or f (levšá)
• Spanish: zurdo (es) m, zurda (es) f
• Tagalog: kaliwete (tl)
• Volapük: (♂♀) nedetaskilan, (♂) nedetahiskilan, (♀) nedetajiskilan

baseball: left-handed pitcher

• Finnish: vasuri (fi)
• Japanese: サウスポー (ja) (さうすぽー, sausupō)

left-handed writer who turns their hand upside down to write

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} linkshandig (nl)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: ^{(please verify)} destçep (ku)

Further reading

• “southpaw”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.