sinister
English
Alternative forms
- sinistre (obsolete)
Etymology
From Middle English sinistre (“unlucky”), from Old French sinistra (“left”), from Latin sinestra (“left hand”).
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈsɪnɪstə/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈsɪnɪstɚ/
Audio (US) (file) Audio (AU) (file) - Accented on the middle syllable by the older poets, such as Shakespeare, Milton, and Dryden.
Adjective
sinister (comparative more sinister, superlative most sinister)
- Inauspicious, ominous, unlucky, illegitimate (as in bar sinister).
- 1611, Ben[jamin] Jonson, Catiline His Conspiracy, London: […] [William Stansby?] for Walter Burre, OCLC 1048971098, (please specify |act=I to V):
- All the several ills that visit earth,
Brought forth by night, with a sinister birth.
- 1922, Michael Arlen, “1/5/1”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:
- 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.
-
- Evil or seemingly evil; indicating lurking danger or harm.
- sinister influences
- the sinister atmosphere of the crypt
- (archaic) Of the left side.
- Antonym: dexter
- c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act V, scene v], column 2:
- my Mothers bloud
Runs on the dexter checke, and this ſiniſter
Bounds in my fathers:
- c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s VVell, that Ends VVell”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene i], page 235:
- His ſicatrice, with an Embleme of warre, heere on his ſiniſter cheeke;
- 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.’
- (heraldry) On the left side of a shield from the wearer's standpoint, and the right side to the viewer.
- Antonym: dexter
- (obsolete) Wrong, as springing from indirection or obliquity; perverse; dishonest.
- 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Judicature”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, OCLC 863521290:
- Nimble and sinister tricks and shifts.
- 1667, Robert South, The Practice of Religion Enforced by Reason
- He scorns to undermine another's interest by any sinister or inferior arts.
- 1822, [Walter Scott], The Pirate. […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., OCLC 779274973:
- He read in their looks […] sinister intentions directed particularly toward himself.
-
Derived terms
- bar sinister
- baton sinister
- bend sinister
- sinister aspect
- sinister base
- sinister chief
- sinistral
Translations
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Anagrams
- insister, resistin, sinistre
Dutch
Pronunciation
Audio (file)
Adjective
sinister (comparative sinisterder, superlative sinisterst)
- sinister
Inflection
Inflection of sinister | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
uninflected | sinister | |||
inflected | sinistere | |||
comparative | sinisterder | |||
positive | comparative | superlative | ||
predicative/adverbial | sinister | sinisterder | het sinisterst het sinisterste | |
indefinite | m./f. sing. | sinistere | sinisterdere | sinisterste |
n. sing. | sinister | sinisterder | sinisterste | |
plural | sinistere | sinisterdere | sinisterste | |
definite | sinistere | sinisterdere | sinisterste | |
partitive | sinisters | sinisterders | — |
German
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ziˈnɪstɐ/
Audio (file)
Adjective
sinister (strong nominative masculine singular sinisterer, comparative sinisterer, superlative am sinistersten)
- sinister
Declension
number & gender | singular | plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
masculine | feminine | neuter | all genders | ||
predicative | er ist sinister | sie ist sinister | es ist sinister | sie sind sinister | |
strong declension (without article) | nominative | sinisterer | sinistere | sinisteres | sinistere |
genitive | sinisteren | sinisterer | sinisteren | sinisterer | |
dative | sinisterem | sinisterer | sinisterem | sinisteren | |
accusative | sinisteren | sinistere | sinisteres | sinistere | |
weak declension (with definite article) | nominative | der sinistere | die sinistere | das sinistere | die sinisteren |
genitive | des sinisteren | der sinisteren | des sinisteren | der sinisteren | |
dative | dem sinisteren | der sinisteren | dem sinisteren | den sinisteren | |
accusative | den sinisteren | die sinistere | das sinistere | die sinisteren | |
mixed declension (with indefinite article) | nominative | ein sinisterer | eine sinistere | ein sinisteres | (keine) sinisteren |
genitive | eines sinisteren | einer sinisteren | eines sinisteren | (keiner) sinisteren | |
dative | einem sinisteren | einer sinisteren | einem sinisteren | (keinen) sinisteren | |
accusative | einen sinisteren | eine sinistere | ein sinisteres | (keine) sinisteren |
number & gender | singular | plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
masculine | feminine | neuter | all genders | ||
predicative | er ist sinisterer | sie ist sinisterer | es ist sinisterer | sie sind sinisterer | |
strong declension (without article) | nominative | sinistererer | sinisterere | sinistereres | sinisterere |
genitive | sinistereren | sinistererer | sinistereren | sinistererer | |
dative | sinistererem | sinistererer | sinistererem | sinistereren | |
accusative | sinistereren | sinisterere | sinistereres | sinisterere | |
weak declension (with definite article) | nominative | der sinisterere | die sinisterere | das sinisterere | die sinistereren |
genitive | des sinistereren | der sinistereren | des sinistereren | der sinistereren | |
dative | dem sinistereren | der sinistereren | dem sinistereren | den sinistereren | |
accusative | den sinistereren | die sinisterere | das sinisterere | die sinistereren | |
mixed declension (with indefinite article) | nominative | ein sinistererer | eine sinisterere | ein sinistereres | (keine) sinistereren |
genitive | eines sinistereren | einer sinistereren | eines sinistereren | (keiner) sinistereren | |
dative | einem sinistereren | einer sinistereren | einem sinistereren | (keinen) sinistereren | |
accusative | einen sinistereren | eine sinisterere | ein sinistereres | (keine) sinistereren |
number & gender | singular | plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
masculine | feminine | neuter | all genders | ||
predicative | er ist am sinistersten | sie ist am sinistersten | es ist am sinistersten | sie sind am sinistersten | |
strong declension (without article) | nominative | sinisterster | sinisterste | sinisterstes | sinisterste |
genitive | sinistersten | sinisterster | sinistersten | sinisterster | |
dative | sinisterstem | sinisterster | sinisterstem | sinistersten | |
accusative | sinistersten | sinisterste | sinisterstes | sinisterste | |
weak declension (with definite article) | nominative | der sinisterste | die sinisterste | das sinisterste | die sinistersten |
genitive | des sinistersten | der sinistersten | des sinistersten | der sinistersten | |
dative | dem sinistersten | der sinistersten | dem sinistersten | den sinistersten | |
accusative | den sinistersten | die sinisterste | das sinisterste | die sinistersten | |
mixed declension (with indefinite article) | nominative | ein sinisterster | eine sinisterste | ein sinisterstes | (keine) sinistersten |
genitive | eines sinistersten | einer sinistersten | eines sinistersten | (keiner) sinistersten | |
dative | einem sinistersten | einer sinistersten | einem sinistersten | (keinen) sinistersten | |
accusative | einen sinistersten | eine sinisterste | ein sinisterstes | (keine) sinistersten |
Further reading
- “sinister” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
- “sinister” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
Latin
Etymology
From Proto-Italic *senisteros, of unknown origin, but possibly from a euphemism from the same Proto-Indo-European root as Sanskrit सनीयान् (sanīyān, “more useful, more advantageous”).[1]
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /siˈnis.ter/, [s̠ɪˈnɪs̠t̪ɛr]
- (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /siˈnis.ter/, [siˈnist̪er]
Adjective
sinister (feminine sinistra, neuter sinistrum); first/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er)
- left
- Synonyms: laevus, scaevus
- Antonym: dexter
- perverse, bad; or adverse, hostile
- 1st BC, Virgilius
- mores sinistri
- arboribus Notus sinister
- 1st BC, Virgilius
- (religion) auspicious (for Romans) or inauspicious (for Greeks)
- 1st BC, Virgilius
- sinistra cornix, good omen
- 2nd century, Apuleius
- sinistro pede profectus, started with bad omen
- 1st BC, Virgilius
Declension
First/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er).
Number | Singular | Plural | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Case / Gender | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
Nominative | sinister | sinistra | sinistrum | sinistrī | sinistrae | sinistra | |
Genitive | sinistrī | sinistrae | sinistrī | sinistrōrum | sinistrārum | sinistrōrum | |
Dative | sinistrō | sinistrō | sinistrīs | ||||
Accusative | sinistrum | sinistram | sinistrum | sinistrōs | sinistrās | sinistra | |
Ablative | sinistrō | sinistrā | sinistrō | sinistrīs | |||
Vocative | sinister | sinistra | sinistrum | sinistrī | sinistrae | sinistra |
Descendants
- Asturian: siniestru
- Catalan: sinistre (borrowing)
- Dutch: sinister (borrowing)
- English: sinister (borrowing)
- French: sinistre (borrowing), senestre
- Friulian: signestri
- Galician: sinistro (borrowing), seistro
- Italian: sinistro, sinistra, sinestro
- Norman: s'nêtre
- Occitan: senèstre
- Old Catalan: senestre, sinestre
- Old French: senestre
- Old Portuguese: sẽestro, seestra
- Portuguese: sestro, sinistro (borrowing)
- Romanian: sinistru (borrowing)
- Romansch: sanester, schnester
- Spanish: siniestro, siniestra
- Venetian: senestro, sinistro
References
- “sinister”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “sinister”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- Castiglioni-Mariotti, IL
- Per Klein, Buck.