Word of the Day

: April 10, 2017

widdershins

adverb WID-er-shinz

What It Means

: in a left-handed, wrong, or contrary direction : counterclockwise

widdershins in Context

"Who could fail to be charmed by Korda's account of how he met his wife, Margaret, in Central Park, where they both rode their horses early in the morning, one going clockwise, the other widdershins, until the fateful day when they found themselves going in the same direction …?" — Maxine Kumin, The New York Times Book Review, 22 Apr. 2001

"… I know, however, that you are lying, and nothing can turn me widdershins against the power of my own will." — Elinor Wylie, Mortal Image, 1927

Did You Know?

English speakers today are most likely to encounter widdershins as a synonym of counterclockwise. But in earliest known uses, found in texts from the early 1500s, widdershins was used more broadly in the sense of "in the wrong way or opposite direction." To say that one's hair "stood widdershins" was, in essence, to say that one was having a bad hair day. By the mid-1500s, English speakers had adopted widdershins to specifically describe movement opposite to the apparent clockwise direction (as seen from the northern hemisphere) of the sun traveling across the sky, which, at the time, could be considered evil or unlucky. The word originates from the Old High German widar, meaning "back" or "against," and sinnen, meaning "to travel."