southpaw
noun
Did you know?
Southpaw is of obscure origin. A popular theory holds that it comes from the onetime position of ballparks in relation to the sun. Supposedly, late 19th-century ballparks were laid out so that the pitcher looked in a westerly direction when facing the batter. The throwing arm of a left-handed pitcher would then be to the south-hence the name southpaw. This theory of its origin is undermined, however, by the fact that the original use of southpaw does not involve baseball at all. Rather, the term was used as early as 1848 to describe, simply, the left hand or a punch or blow given with the left hand. Today, we often use southpaw as a good-natured term for a left-handed person, but the word is sometimes viewed as stigmatizing by left-handed people.
Examples of southpaw in a Sentence
Gary Phillips, New York Daily News, 27 Feb. 2026
But the southpaw won the 2024 Cy Young Award, completing one of baseball’s best comeback arcs.
—Gabriel Burns, AJC.com, 24 Feb. 2026
After being limited to 31 starts over his last three Red Sox seasons, the veteran southpaw finally achieved the comeback season that had eluded him for nearly half a decade.
—Gabrielle Starr, Boston Herald, 24 Feb. 2026
Texas baseball catcher Carson Tinney made like a mime behind the microphone Sunday, dropping his left arm down to waist-level to simulate the delivery of Longhorns southpaw Ethan Walker.
—David Eckert, Austin American Statesman, 23 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for southpaw
Cite this Entry
“Southpaw.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/southpaw. Accessed 9 Mar. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
southpaw
noun
