漢字Kanji · in Action & Movement
左: left
Oracle bone · Shang Bronze · Western Zhou Today
Oracle bone and bronze: Wikimedia Commons, traced from Academia Sinica, CC0. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Two readings, and the words that use each
サsa · on'yomi · in compounds
- 左右するさゆうするinfluence, control, command
- 左派さは(political) left wing
- 左翼さよくleft wing
- 左右さゆう
ひだりhidari · kun'yomi · on its own
- 左ひだりleft
- 左側ひだりがわleft side
- 左向きひだりむきleft facing
- 左腕ひだりうでleft arm
Also read シャ, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0 · JMdict, EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Phono-semantic compound (形聲)𠂇 left hand (sound) + 工 work (meaning)
Originally written 𠂇 and 䶹 in the oracle bone script: Pictogram (象形) – a left hand.
Source: Wiktionary, 左 (rev. 93759570), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Hand (𠂇) + work/tool (工). Historically, the "left" hand was seen as the one holding the "work" or tool while the right hand performed the primary action.”
Connections
Easy to confuse
The difference, side by sideIn ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · zuǒ
Same form: 左 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).
- Simplified
- 左 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 左 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin zuǒ most common reading
Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.