# Some Basic Medical-Speak...? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 29, 2015, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-basic-medical-speak/716292 "2015-03-29T20:20:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-basic-medical-speak/716292/1 "2015-03-29T20:20:24Z")
What is “medical speak” for the left and right sides of the body, respectively? I tried using Google translate seeking the Latin for these terms. But, maybe it’s not working correctly? It’s returning the same English I input. (And, yes, I have English selected as the input and Latin selected as the output.) Disclaimer for the Moderator(s): Yes, more commonly, we all may be familiar with “anterior” and “posterior” as “front” and “back”, respectively. And “superior” and “inferior” as “upper” and “lower”, respectively. So, I hope the Moderator(s) will forgive me if I ask here as I can’t find this answer elsewhere. I keep coming up empty-handed. ---
**Author:** ![Ace309](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ace309/32/1050_2.png) [@Ace309](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ace309)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-basic-medical-speak/716292/2 "2015-03-29T20:26:26Z")
I think you might find “sinister” and “dexter” for left and right, respectively, useful. That was found at [the wikipedia article on Anatomical terms of location](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatomical_terms_of_location#Axes), if you’re interested in finding some other information. Good luck! ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-basic-medical-speak/716292/3 "2015-03-29T20:27:15Z")
> [@Jinx](#): > > What is “medical speak” for the left and right sides of the body, respectively? I tried using Google translate seeking the Latin for these terms. But, maybe it’s not working correctly? It’s returning the same English I input. (And, yes, I have English selected as the input and Latin selected as the output.) > > Disclaimer for the Moderator(s): Yes, more commonly, we all may be familiar with “anterior” and “posterior” as “front” and “back”, respectively. And “superior” and “inferior” as “upper” and “lower”, respectively. So, I hope the Moderator(s) will forgive me if I ask here as I can’t find this answer elsewhere. I keep coming up empty-handed. Sinister for left and dexter for right. ---
**Author:** ![dofe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ba0ec/32.png) [@dofe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dofe)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-basic-medical-speak/716292/4 "2015-03-29T20:31:23Z")
For eye exams, “O.D.” for the right eye and “O.S.” for the left eye. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-basic-medical-speak/716292/5 "2015-03-29T20:33:16Z")
If you want to get down to the molecular biochemistry level, the prefixes levo- and dextro- are commonly used. How commonly are sinister and dexter (or any derivatives of those) used in medicalese? (In fact, I’m just looking at that wiki page now – it notes that these are uncommon usages.) I see them used more commonly in [discussions of heraldry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dexter_and_sinister), where the words are used to describe elements on the left and right sides of coats-of-arms, flags, crests, etc. ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-basic-medical-speak/716292/6 "2015-03-29T20:38:39Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > If you want to get down to the molecular biochemistry level, the prefixes levo- and dextro- are commonly used. > > How commonly are sinister and dexter (or any derivatives of those) used in medicalese? (In fact, I’m just looking at that wiki page now – it notes that these are uncommon usages.) I see them used more commonly in [discussions of heraldry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dexter_and_sinister), where the words are used to describe elements on the left and right sides of coats-of-arms, flags, crests, etc. As Dofe pointed out, they are used exclusively in optical exams. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-basic-medical-speak/716292/7 "2015-03-29T21:12:30Z")
> [@dofe](#): > > For eye exams, “O.D.” for the right eye and “O.S.” for the left eye. (just in case it’s not clear enough already) O.D. = Oculus Dexter / O.S. = Oculus Sinister ---
**Author:** ![pendgwen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3da27b/32.png) [@pendgwen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pendgwen)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-basic-medical-speak/716292/8 "2015-03-29T21:25:31Z")
Ophthalmologists are the only specialty I see still using sinister and dexter. Everyone else just says left or right. ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-basic-medical-speak/716292/9 "2015-03-29T21:41:54Z")
> [@pendgwen](#): > > Ophthalmologists are the only specialty I see still using sinister and dexter. Everyone else just says left or right. Optometrists too. ---
**Author:** ![jezzaOZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9a28c/32.png) [@jezzaOZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jezzaOZ)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-basic-medical-speak/716292/10 "2015-03-29T22:33:09Z")
At one stage in the Army we had a classics educated corporal. We marched to the Latin commands of “Sinister…, Sinister…, Sinister Dexter Sinister” ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-basic-medical-speak/716292/11 "2015-03-29T22:41:00Z")
Most often in visit notes, I see L for left and R for right, sometimes (but not always) circled. Quite often, it’s as part of a larger abbreviation, like RLE for right lower extremity for right leg. Then it’s not circled. But medical abbreviations are not really all that standardized, which surprises a lot of people, including students. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-basic-medical-speak/716292/12 "2015-03-29T23:11:23Z")
> [@pendgwen](#): > > Ophthalmologists are the only specialty I see still using sinister and dexter. Everyone else just says left or right. > [@barbitu8](#): > > Optometrists too. opticians too. ---
**Author:** ![fighting\_ignorant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ac8455/32.png) [@fighting\_ignorant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fighting_ignorant)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2015, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-basic-medical-speak/716292/13 "2015-03-30T01:03:10Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > opticians too. And optimists ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2015, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-basic-medical-speak/716292/14 "2015-03-30T01:11:16Z")
But regular medical people may well use the term as a prefix or suffix or root inside of them… If you were called sinister, they don’t mean you are of criminal or malicious intent… they mean you are left handed. Ambisinistrous means you are otherwise inexplicably spastic in both hands… I never knew what I had. Outside medicine… Dexter and sinister are terms used in heraldry to refer to specific locations in an escutcheon bearing a coat of arms, and to the other elements of an achievement. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2015, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-basic-medical-speak/716292/15 "2015-03-30T04:47:49Z")
> [@Isilder](#): > > Outside medicine… Dexter and sinister are terms used in heraldry to refer to specific locations in an escutcheon bearing a coat of arms, and to the other elements of an achievement. Although they’re reversed in heraldry, as dexter and sinister are denoted as if for the person HOLDING the shield. So the dexter half of the arms is to the viewer’s left and the sinister half is to the viewer’s right. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2015, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-basic-medical-speak/716292/16 "2015-03-30T05:58:24Z")
> [@fighting\_ignorant](#): > > And optimists Also optographers and optopuses. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2015, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-basic-medical-speak/716292/17 "2015-03-30T15:32:05Z")
Port and starboard. ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2015, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-basic-medical-speak/716292/18 "2015-03-30T19:55:23Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > opticians too. Opticians merely grind the lens per the prescription of an optometrist or ophthalmologist. They do not write prescriptions. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2015, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-basic-medical-speak/716292/19 "2015-03-30T20:13:29Z")
> [@barbitu8](#): > > Opticians merely grind the lens per the prescription of an optometrist or ophthalmologist. They do not write prescriptions. Well, they better be able to _read_ those prescriptions. So in that sense, they are using the vocabulary too. ---
**Author:** ![Ignotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecc23a/32.png) [@Ignotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignotus)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2015, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-basic-medical-speak/716292/20 "2015-03-30T20:32:02Z")
I don’t get this clearly from Wikipedia: does sinister/dexter work the same way in ophthalmology as in heraldry ( =patient’s / shield-bearer’s left/right)? Actually, the word pair _sinister / dexter_ looks to me like a mismatch; organic chemists use _Sinister / Rectus_ (S/R) or _Laevus_ / _Dexter_ (L/D) to denote different kinds of pairs of isomeres. ( And there’s _+/-_ to add to it!!) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-basic-medical-speak/716292.md?page=2)