widdershins

adverb

wid·der·shins | \ ˈwi-dər-shənz

How to pronounce widdershins (audio)

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variants: or less commonly withershins \ ˈwi-t͟hər-shənz

How to pronounce withershins (audio)

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Definition of widdershins

: in a left-handed, wrong, or contrary direction : counterclockwise — compare deasil

Did You Know?

Legend holds that demons always approached the devil widdershins. Not surprisingly, such a path was considered evil and unlucky. By the mid-1500s, English speakers had adopted "widdershins," (from the Old High German widar, meaning "back" or "against," and sinnen, meaning "to travel") for anything following a path opposite to the direction the sun travels across the sky (that is, counterclockwise). But in its earliest known uses "widdershins" was far less malignant; it was used simply to describe a case of bad hair in which unruly locks stood on end or fell the wrong way.

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The first known use of widdershins was in 1545

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