sinistro

Sinistro is a term used in several Romance languages, most notably Italian and Portuguese, with two broad families of senses: directional and incident-related. Its etymology traces to Latin sinister, meaning left, a connection preserved in modern usage for left-hand references in these languages as well as in figurative contexts.

In Italian, sinistro primarily denotes the left side of something, as in lato sinistro. It can also appear in older or literary contexts with an ominous or dangerous sense. In insurance and transportation, sinistro is a specialized term for a loss-causing event; for example, a cittadino may report a sinistro stradale, meaning a road accident. In the insurance industry, a sinistro is an insured event that may lead to a claim; a denun cia di sinistro is the formal notification of such a claim.

In Portuguese, sinistro is widely used in both Portugal and Brazil to mean an accident or incident that results in a loss, particularly in the context of insurance. It designates the event itself rather than merely the damages. A common expression is abrir um sinistro, meaning to file an insurance claim. As an adjective, sinistro can also convey a sense of menace or evil in colloquial language, though this shading is separate from its technical use in insurance.

Commonly, the left-side meaning is independent of the insurance sense, with sinistro functioning as a specialized term in professional contexts. The two senses—left side and incident-related loss—are the primary distinctions across Italian and Portuguese usage.