Sinister

How to spell sinister

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce sinister

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does sinister mean?

1. adjectiveGiving the impression that something harmful or evil is happening or about to happen.

Sinister in a sentence

• A sinister shadow moved across the office window late at night.

• The auditors noticed a sinister pattern in the missing invoices.

Where does sinister come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes straight from the Latin sinister, which simply meant 'on the left side' or 'left-handed'. To Roman augurs who read omens in the flight of birds, signs appearing on the left were often taken as unlucky or ill-omened, so the word gradually picked up the sense of 'unfavourable' and then 'threatening' or 'evil'. English adopted it in the 1400s, at first in the literal heraldic sense of the left-hand side of a coat of arms, a meaning it still keeps in that specialised field. The modern everyday meaning of 'menacing' or 'suggesting harm' grew out of those superstitious associations with the left. The whole spelling stays intact from Latin, which is why the tricky bit for writers is the unstressed middle: it is sin-IS-ter, with an 'i' where a schwa might tempt you to write an 'e' or 'a'.

How the word is built

• sinister (from Latin sinister: on the left, left-handed)