right

Right is a term with several related meanings across language, culture, and science. It can denote a direction or side: the side of the body or an object opposite left, typically the one associated with most people’s dominant hand. It also designates the direction perpendicular to forward in spatial orientation.

It also means correct or true, as in right versus wrong.

A right is a justified claim or entitlement, which may be protected by laws or recognized by moral theory. Concepts such as human rights, civil rights, and property rights are central to modern jurisprudence; the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) articulates fundamental rights for all people.

In mathematics and science, a right angle is 90 degrees; right-handedness refers to asymmetry in biology and to a right-handed coordinate system used in physics and chemistry.

The word originates in Old English riht, related to Proto-Germanic *rihti-, with senses of straight, proper, or correct.