rightsided

Rightsided, also written right-sided, is an adjective describing something located on the right side of the body, or oriented toward the right. In anatomy and medicine the term is used to indicate laterality, as in symptoms, lesions, or anatomical relationships that involve the right side. For example, right-sided chest pain may have cardiac, pulmonary, or musculoskeletal causes; right-sided abdominal pain often localizes to the right lower quadrant; the liver is a right-sided organ while the spleen is typically left-sided. In neurology it is common for right-sided motor or sensory symptoms to reflect a lesion on the left side of the brain, given contralateral control of movement.

The spelling with a hyphen, right-sided, is standard in medical and technical writing. The unhyphenated form rightsided appears less common and is generally considered nonstandard in formal prose, though it may appear in certain databases, software systems, or specific names. When in doubt, use right-sided as the preferred form.

In addition to human anatomy, rightsided can describe other rightward orientations in science and engineering, such as the right-hand rule in physics or rightward asymmetries in biological structures. Context determines whether rightsided should be interpreted as merely directional or as a label for a condition affecting the right side.

See also: left-sided, bilateral, situs solitus, dextrocardia, right-handed.