recto

noun

rec·​to ˈrek-(ˌ)tō 

plural rectos

1

: the side of a leaf (as of a manuscript) that is to be read first

2

: a right-hand page compare verso

Examples of recto in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The recto portrays, in exactingly realistic detail, a locked and beat-up steel rolldown gate, as only the Lower East Side knows them, perforated with 15 black holes begging to be poked through. — Lori Waxman, Chicago Tribune, 10 June 2026

On the recto is the full self-portrait, its face obliterated by the forceful insert of another Rembrandt image. — James Quandt, Artforum, 2 June 2026

The one Milo was bent over—folio 855 recto, with its design for a parabolic swing bridge—rested on the glass of an LED light box. — Cullen Murphy, The Atlantic, 7 July 2023

On the recto, the Angel Gabriel seems to float down to Mary in the cloud-like oval and, on the verso, the risen Christ ascends from the same spot toward heaven. — Judith H. Dobrzynski, WSJ, 12 Mar. 2022

Thistlewood did not, however, divide his diaries into a recto and a verso side but used both sides of his diary notebooks to write daily entries in which philosophical reflections were mixed with his activities as a slave owner. — Zadie Smith, The New York Review of Books, 8 Oct. 2020

Word History

Etymology

New Latin recto (folio) on the right-hand leaf

First Known Use

1810, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for recto

• perfecto