Chinese Character for "Left"

Knowing the Chinese word for left can be very helpful when it comes to giving directions or pointing something out. Easily remember how to say and write left in Chinese with these few explanations.

Breaking Down the Character

The Chinese character for left is 左 (zuǒ). The character is composed of two elements: the radical 工 (gōng) and a stylized version of the character 手 (shǒu).

The character 工 means worker or work. Pictographically, the word represents a carpenter's square. The character 手 means hand. Therefore, one can interpret 左 as a left hand holding a square. 

Compare this with 右 (yòu), which means right. Both of these characters contain a stylized symbol of the word for hand. But in the case of 右, the character's second element is the word for mouth, 口 (kǒu). Because it is common to eat with the right hand, the inclusion of 口 (kǒu) reminds us that the definition of 右 is right.

Mandarin Vocabulary With Zuǒ

Get a taste of how you can put the Chinese word for left to use with this chart of characters and phrases.