Linkskante

Linkskante is a German term that designates the left-hand edge of an object, boundary, or region. It is used in technical and everyday language to indicate the boundary at the left side in two- or three-dimensional space.

The word combines links (on the left) with Kante (edge or border). It appears across fields such as typography, cartography, computer graphics, engineering, and woodworking, where precise reference to the left boundary is important. In everyday language it can refer to the left margin or the left side of a page or object.

In geometry and GIS, the left edge of a polygon or raster area is the edge with the smallest x-coordinate, often described in terms of the bounding box as x_min. In image processing, the left boundary of a bounding rectangle is similarly called the linkskante. In publishing and page layout, the term can describe the left margin of a text area or page. In manufacturing and CAD/CAM contexts, the left edge of a part or feature may be specified for tolerances, machining, or alignment.

The term is directional and typically paired with Rechtskante (right edge) as well as with top and bottom edges (obere Kante, untere Kante). While precise in technical use, linkskante can sometimes be used more colloquially to refer to the left side of an object or document. See also Kante and Rand.