gauche

left; awkward, gawky, clumsy

“avoir deux mains gauches” — to be cack-handed

From gauchir (“to bend, dodge, warp”), a conflation of Old French gauchier (“to tread”) (from Frankish *walkijan, *walkan, cognate with English walk) + Old French guenchir (“to deviate”) (from Frankish *wenkijan (“to sway, falter”)). Gauche replaced the original Latin-derived word for "left", senestre, in the sixteenth century. Compare Walloon gåtche.

the left, the left-hand side; the left (the left-wing political parties as a group; citizens holding left-wing views as a group)

“à gauche” — to the left

From gauchir (“to bend, dodge, warp”), a conflation of Old French gauchier (“to tread”) (from Frankish *walkijan, *walkan, cognate with English walk) + Old French guenchir (“to deviate”) (from Frankish *wenkijan (“to sway, falter”)). Gauche replaced the original Latin-derived word for "left", senestre, in the sixteenth century. Compare Walloon gåtche.

ellipsis of poing gauche (“left fist”)

“un crochet du gauche” — a left hook

From gauchir (“to bend, dodge, warp”), a conflation of Old French gauchier (“to tread”) (from Frankish *walkijan, *walkan, cognate with English walk) + Old French guenchir (“to deviate”) (from Frankish *wenkijan (“to sway, falter”)). Gauche replaced the original Latin-derived word for "left", senestre, in the sixteenth century. Compare Walloon gåtche.