# Right-Handed Meaning: Dexter, Sinister and You > Right-handed means using your right hand by preference, like nine people in ten. Where the word comes from, why sinister once meant left, and what it says about you. - URL: https://ambidestro.it/en/right-handed-meaning/ - Author: Mattia Penna (https://mattiapenna.dev/) - Category: Are You Ambidextrous - Language: English - Published: 2025-08-03 - Updated: 2026-10-08 - Other languages: [Italiano](https://ambidestro.it/destrorso-il-significato-di-una-preferenza.md), [Español](https://ambidestro.it/es/significado-de-diestro.md) ## Right-handed, in short Being **right-handed** means using your right hand by preference — or more skilfully than your left — for things like writing, throwing or holding a fork. It is the human default: the largest study to date puts left-handers at about 10.6%[\[1\]](#fonti "Papadatou-Pastou et al., 2020"), so **roughly nine people in ten** are right-handed. Try something right now. Take a pen and sign your name. Then switch hands and sign again, just underneath. Keep that second signature somewhere you can see it: we will come back to it. ## A word with a bias English is not neutral about hands. *Dexterity* — skill, especially with the hands — comes from the Latin *dexter*, "on the right"[\[2\]](#fonti "dexterity - Wiktionary, the free dictionary"). To be dextrous is, quite literally, to be **good the way the right hand is good**. The left side got the opposite treatment. *Sinister* reached English from the Latin for "left hand", by way of an Old French word for "left" and a Middle English one for "unlucky"[\[3\]](#fonti "sinister - Wiktionary, the free dictionary"). Heraldry still keeps the pair side by side: every shield has a *dexter* side and a *sinister* one. > So the clever word went to the right hand, and the creepy one to the left? Pretty much. Language is full of fossils like these, and they say more about old prejudices than about anyone's hands. ## Screws and spirals The word does not only describe people. Something **right-handed** can also turn or spiral from left to right — clockwise[\[4\]](#fonti "right-handed - Wiktionary, the free dictionary"): - a right-handed screw tightens when you turn it clockwise, which is why "righty-tighty, lefty-loosey" works on almost everything in your toolbox; - in physics, a right-handed particle spins in the same direction it moves; - in maths, a right-handed coordinate system follows the right-hand rule. Go and check the nearest jar lid. Right-handed, almost certainly. The rest of the world is built the same way. Scissors, can openers, ladles with a spout, school desks with the writing flap on the right: nearly everything assumes you are right-handed. A left-hander notices every day; you probably never have. Pick up a pair of scissors with your left hand and cut a sheet of paper — three seconds is all it takes. Anyone choosing a mouse knows it too: I compared the [best ambidextrous mice](https://ambidestro.it/en/ambidextrous-mouse/) for exactly that reason. And when both hands share the work equally? There is a word for that too — [ambidextrous](https://ambidestro.it/en/ambidextrous-meaning/) — and it has a surprisingly unflattering past of its own. ## One in ten That "nine in ten" is remarkably stable, but the exact figure depends on how you ask. The same meta-analysis of 200 studies found anywhere from **9.3% to 18.1%** of people were not right-handed, depending on how strict the definition was[\[1\]](#fonti "Papadatou-Pastou et al., 2020"). Asking only "which hand do you write with?" gives a lower number than a full questionnaire about throwing, cutting and brushing your teeth. That is why you will read "about 10%" in one place and "nearly 20%" in another — and both can be right. ## The brain, minus the myths Why are most of us right-handed? Part of the answer is well known: each half of the brain mainly controls the opposite half of the body, so **your right hand takes its orders from your left hemisphere**. The deeper *why* is still open. Genes, development before birth and culture all play a part, and none of them explains it alone. Be wary of anyone who tells you right-handers are "logical" and left-handers "creative": it is a lovely story, but [the research does not back it up](https://ambidestro.it/en/are-ambidextrous-people-smarter/). Being right-handed is not a choice. It is not a life sentence either: your left hand is not useless, just **less practised**. ## The other half Look at that second signature again. Every time your left hand picks up the pen, your brain clears a new trail — narrow and rocky at first, then a little more worn each day. Want to know how wide your trail is today? Take the [ambidextrous test](https://ambidestro.it/en/ambidextrous-test/): eight questions, instant result. Then pick a starting point among the [exercises to become ambidextrous](https://ambidestro.it/en/exercises-to-become-ambidextrous/). If you would rather have the whole map, I put it in a book: **"How to Become Ambidextrous"**, with an in-depth test and progressive exercises to turn that trail into a road. Sign with your left hand once a day for a week. One line. Then compare. If this was useful, share it with the friend who still thinks the left hand is the sinister one! [ ![Cover of the book How to Become Ambidextrous](https://ambidestro.it/uploads/cover_how_to_become_ambidextrous_135ca3f910.webp) ](https://ambidestro.it/go/ambidextrous?l=en) **[Find the book on Amazon and start clearing your trail!](https://ambidestro.it/go/ambidextrous?l=en)** ## Frequently asked questions ### What is the opposite of right-handed? The opposite of right-handed is left-handed: preferring the left hand for tasks such as writing or throwing. People who use both hands equally well are ambidextrous, while those who use different hands for different tasks, for example writing with the right and throwing with the left, are usually called mixed-handed. ### What does dextrous mean? Dextrous, or dexterous, means skilful, especially with the hands. The word comes from the Latin dexter, meaning on the right, so it originally linked skill with the right hand. Its counterpart, sinister, comes from the Latin word for the left hand and later took on the meaning of unlucky. ### What percentage of people are right-handed? About nine people in ten are right-handed. The largest meta-analysis on the subject, covering almost two and a half million people, puts left-handers at around 10.6 percent, with estimates between 9.3 and 18.1 percent depending on how strictly handedness is defined. ### Can a right-handed person become ambidextrous? Yes, a right-handed person can train the left hand to become much more capable. The dominant hand does not change, but practising everyday tasks such as writing, drawing or using a mouse with the other hand for a few minutes a day makes the movements steadily more precise and less tiring. ## Sources 1. [Papadatou-Pastou et al., 2020](https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000229) 2. [dexterity - Wiktionary, the free dictionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dexterity) 3. [sinister - Wiktionary, the free dictionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sinister) 4. [right-handed - Wiktionary, the free dictionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/right-handed)