Wiktionary

dexter

See also: Dexter

English

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Etymology

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Learned borrowing from Latin dexter (“right”).

Pronunciation

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  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈdɛks.tə/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈdɛks.tɝ/
  • Audio (UK):(file)

Adjective

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dexter (not comparable)

  1. (archaic outside heraldry) Right; on the right-hand side. (In heraldry, specifically the bearer's right, which is the viewer's left.)
    Antonym: sinister
    • 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, [Act V, scene v], column 2:
      my Mothers bloud / Runs on the dexter checke, and this ſiniſter / Bounds in my fathers:
    • 1887, George William Foote with J. M. Wheeler, Crimes of Christianity, London: Progressive Publishing:
      Displaying his dexter palm, he exclaimed that there was a hand that never took a bribe; whereupon a smart auditor cried "How about the one behind your back?"
    • 1911, Saki, ‘The Match-Maker’, The Chronicles of Clovis:
      Clovis wiped the trace of Turkish coffee and the beginnings of a smile from his lips, and slowly lowered his dexter eyelid.
    • 1998 July 6, Auguste Vachon, Claire Boudreau, Daniel Cogné, Genealogica & Heraldica: Ottawa 1996, University of Ottawa Press, →ISBN, page 324:
      […] the dexter lion being gorged  […]

Derived terms

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Translations

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Noun

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dexter (plural dexters)

  1. (archaic outside heraldry) The right side (of a building, an equation, a heraldic shield [from the wearer's perspective], etc).
    • 1879, London Mathematical Society, Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society, page 112:
      Subtracting the second from the first, the third from the second and the first from the third successively, we obtain, after transposition, the following identities: — [several equations]
      But, the sinisters being exact differentials, the dexters are so. Consequently [...]
    • 1971, Debala Mitra, Buddhist Monuments:
      On the dexter of the court is a long hall with an arched ceiling and a door, leading to a small oblong shrine with a vaulted ceiling.

Translations

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See also

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Latin

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Alternative forms

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  • dester (Vulgar or Late Latin, Pompeian inscriptions)

Etymology

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From Proto-Italic *deksteros, from Proto-Indo-European *deḱs-tero-s, from *deḱs- (“right”). Cognate with Ancient Greek δεξιτερός (dexiterós), and compare δεξιός (dexiós), Old High German zesawa (“right hand, right hand side”), Sanskrit दक्षिण (dákṣiṇa), Old Church Slavonic деснъ (desnŭ, “right”).

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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dexter (feminine dextra or dextera, neuter dextrum or dexterum, comparative dexterior, superlative dextimus); first/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er; two different stems)

  1. right (relative direction), right hand
    Antonyms: laevus, scaevus, sinister
  2. skillful
    • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 2.291–292:
      “‘[...] Sī Pergama dextrā
      dēfendī possent, etiam hāc dēfēnsa fuissent.’”
      [Aeneas dreams of Hector, who tells him to flee, not fight:] “‘If Trojan [towers] could have been defended by [any] skillful [hand], [then] certainly by this [hand of mine] they would have been able to be defended.’”
  3. fortunate, favorable
  4. proper, fitting

Declension

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First/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er; two different stems).

singular plural
masculine feminine neuter masculine feminine neuter
nominative dexter dextra
dextera 		dextrum
dexterum 		dextrī
dexterī 		dextrae
dexterae 		dextra
dextera
genitive dextrī
dexterī 		dextrae
dexterae 		dextrī
dexterī 		dextrōrum
dexterōrum 		dextrārum
dexterārum 		dextrōrum
dexterōrum
dative dextrō
dexterō 		dextrae
dexterae 		dextrō
dexterō 		dextrīs
dexterīs
accusative dextrum
dexterum 		dextram
dexteram 		dextrum
dexterum 		dextrōs
dexterōs 		dextrās
dexterās 		dextra
dextera
ablative dextrō
dexterō 		dextrā
dexterā 		dextrō
dexterō 		dextrīs
dexterīs
vocative dexter dextra
dextera 		dextrum
dexterum 		dextrī
dexterī 		dextrae
dexterae 		dextra
dextera

Derived terms

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Descendants

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References

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  • “dexter”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “dexter”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • dexter in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
    • (ambiguous) to give one's hand to some one: manum (dextram) alicui porrigere
    • (ambiguous) to give one's right hand to some one: dextram alicui porrigere, dare
    • (ambiguous) to shake hands with a person: dextram iungere cum aliquo, dextras inter se iungere

Romanian

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Etymology

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Learned borrowing from Latin dexter.

Adjective

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dexter m or n (feminine singular dexteră, masculine plural dexteri, feminine and neuter plural dextere)

  1. dexterous

Declension

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Declension of dexter
singular plural
masculine neuter feminine masculine neuter feminine
nominative/
accusative 		indefinite dexter dexteră dexteri dextere
definite dexterul dextera dexterii dexterele
genitive/
dative 		indefinite dexter dextere dexteri dextere
definite dexterului dexterei dexterilor dexterelor

References

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  • dexter in Academia Română, Micul dicționar academic, ediția a II-a, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2010. →ISBN
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