# right

> English word · Adjective · IPA /ˈɹaɪt/ · frequency rank #115

## Definitions
1. Designating the side of the body which is positioned to the east if one is facing north, the side on which the heart is not located in most humans. This arrow points to the reader's right: →
2. Clockwise, particularly when describing a change in direction or orientation.
3. Complying with justice, correctness, or reason; correct, just, true. See also the interjection senses below.
4. Appropriate, perfectly suitable; fit for purpose.
5. Healthy, sane, competent.
6. Real; veritable (used emphatically).
7. Of an angle, measuring 90 degrees, or one quarter of a complete rotation; the angle between two perpendicular lines.
8. Of a geometric figure, incorporating a right angle between edges, faces, axes, etc.
9. Designating the bank of a river (etc.) on one's right when facing downstream (i.e. facing forward while floating with the current); that is, the south bank of a river that flows eastward. If this arrow: ⥴ shows the direction of the current, the tilde is on the right side of the river.
10. Designed to be placed or worn outward.
11. Pertaining to the political right; conservative.
12. All right; not requiring assistance.
13. Most favourable or convenient; fortunate.
14. Straight, not bent.
15. Of or relating to the right whale.

## Etymology
From Middle English right, from Old English riht, reht (“right,” also the word for “straight” and “direct”), from Proto-West Germanic *reht, from Proto-Germanic *rehtaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵtós (“having moved in a straight line”), from *h₃reǵ- (“to straighten, direct”).
The Germanic adjective which has been used also as a noun since the common Germanic period.
Cognates
Cognate with West Frisian rjocht (“right”), Dutch recht (“straight”), German recht and Recht (“right”), Luxembourgish Recht, riets (“right”), riicht (“straight”), Yiddish רעכט (rekht, “right”), Danish ret (“right”), Faroese rættur (“right”), Icelandic réttur (“right”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk rett (“right”), Swedish rätt, rät (“right”). The Indo-European root is also the source of Ancient Greek ὀρεκτός (orektós) and Latin rēctus; Albanian drejt was borrowed from Latin.

## Easily confused with
- **rit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/right-vs-rit)
- **riot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/right-vs-riot)
- **rigs** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/right-vs-rigs)
- **rigid** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/right-vs-rigid)
- **rigor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/right-vs-rigor)
- **rishi** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/right-vs-rishi)
- **rivet** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/right-vs-rivet)
- **rights** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/right-vs-rights)
- **rightly** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/right-vs-rightly)
- **write** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/right-vs-write)
- **wright** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/right-vs-wright)
- **rite** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/right-vs-rite)
- **rig** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/rig-vs-right)
- **rich** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/rich-vs-right)
- **rift** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/rift-vs-right)
- **Riga** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/riga-vs-right)

## Common misspellings (8)
`irght`, `rgiht`, `rigght`, `righht`, `rightt`, `rigth`, `rihgt`, `rright`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/right