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Added 1 October 2026

side

/ˈsaɪ̯d/ noun

Categories: PlacesSocietyEveryday Words

In Latin: latus Coined: 2010, by Joe Kort Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about side at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

  1. A bounding straight edge of a two-dimensional shape.
    A square has four sides.
  2. A flat surface of a three-dimensional object; a face.
    A cube has six sides.
  3. One half (left or right, top or bottom, front or back, etc.) of something or someone.
    Which side of the tray shall I put it on? The patient was bleeding on the right side.

adjective

  1. Being on the left or right, or toward the left or right; lateral.
  2. Indirect; oblique; incidental.
    a side issue; a side view or remark

verb

  1. To ally oneself, be in an alliance, usually with "with" or rarely "in with"
    Which will you side with, good or evil?
  2. To lean on one side.
  3. To be or stand at the side of; to be on the side toward.

adjective

  1. Wide; large; long, pendulous, hanging low, trailing; far-reaching.
  2. Far; distant.

Origin

From Middle English side, from Old English sīde (“side, flank”), from Proto-Germanic *sīdǭ (“side, flank, edge, shore”), derived from *sīdaz, probably from Proto-Indo-European *seh₁- (“long, lasting”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Siede (“side”), West Frisian side (“side”), Dutch zijde, zij (“side”), German Low German Sied (“side”), German Seite (“side”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk side (“side”), Swedish sida (“side”). The LGBTQ slang sense was coined by sex therapist and author Joe Kort in 2010 and popularized in 2013. The sense was coined by analogy with top and bottom and based on the metaphor of a box which has a top, bottom, and sides.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

Related Words: positionsidelongincidentslopebyinclineincidentalbroadsideenglishlateralface

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