Other forms: leftists
A leftist is somebody who holds left-wing political views. A leftist government, leftist politics, denounced as a leftist.
The left and right of politics come from the seating in the French revolutionary assembly, where supporters of the king sat on the president's right. In America the word is used mainly as an accusation, and in Europe far more neutrally.
1nounleftistSomebody who holds left-wing political views.
“In his student days he was a committed leftist who marched against every war.”
leftist is a person.
Proto-Indo-European
*lewbʰ-
Proto-Indo-European
*(s)lewp-
Proto-Germanic
*luft-
Old English
left
Middle English
left
English
left
English, today
leftist
Built from
From left + -ist. left comes from Middle English left, luft, leoft, lift, lyft, from Old English left, lyft (“weak, clumsy, foolish”), attested in Old English lyftādl (“palsy, paralysis”), from Proto-Germanic luft-, from lubjaną (“to castrate, lop off”) (compare dialectal English lib, West Frisian lobje, Dutch lubben), from Proto-Indo-European (s)lewp-, (s)lup- (“hanging limply”). Compare Scots left (“left”), frr lefts, leeft, leefts (“left”), West Frisian lofts (“left”), obsolete Dutch lucht, leftsch, lefts, lefs (“left”), dialectal Dutch loof (“weak, worthless”), archaic Low German lucht (“left”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA