southpaw

/ˌsaʊθˈpɔ/

/ˈsaʊθpɔ/

Other forms: southpaws

If you're left-handed, you can call yourself a southpaw. If you're also a baseball fan, you may admire southpaws like the famous left-handed pitcher Sandy Koufax.

The slightly old-fashioned term southpaw may have started in the 1880s as baseball slang for left-handed pitchers. Legend has it that a Chicago sports writer coined the term, based on the now-obsolete tradition of laying out baseball diamonds with home plate toward the west. Others attribute southpaw to boxing slang, for "left-handed punch." Whatever the origin, it's a colorful way to describe any lefty.

Definitions of southpaw

1. noun

   a person who uses the left hand with greater skill than the right
   “their pitcher was a southpaw”

   synonyms: left-hander, lefty

   type of:

   individual, mortal, person, somebody, someone, soul

   a human being
2. noun

   a baseball pitcher who throws the ball with the left hand
   synonyms: left hander, left-handed pitcher, left-hander, lefthander, lefty

   type of:

   hurler, pitcher, twirler

   (baseball) the person who does the pitching