Word.ws English Dictionary

two left hands

UK/tuː lɛft hæn(d)z/

two left hands noun: lack of dexterity in either hand; being ambilevous.

Noun

two left hands pl (plural only)

  1. (idiomatic, plural, plural-only) Lack of dexterity in either hand; being ambilevous.
    • I've never been good at sewing; I guess I've got two left hands.
    • There are awkward grownup persons, having, as the French say, two left hands, whom no labour will ever make dexterous carvers;1828, Mrs Margaret Dods [pseudonym; Christian Isobel Johnstone], The Cook and Housewife's Manual: Containing the Most Approved Modern Receipts for Making Soups, Gravies, Sauces, Ragouts, and All...
  2. (plural, plural-only) Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see two, left, hands.
    • They sit in the Vajraparyahka attitude and show in the two right hands the boon and the arrow drawn up to the ear, and in the two left hands the Utpala and the bow.1958 June, Benoytosh Bhattacharyya, The Indian Buddhist Iconography, 2nd edition, Calcutta: K. L. Mukhopadhyay, page 151

Examples of two left hands in a sentence

  • He has two left hands, and was never known to do anything right; whatever he touches he is sure to despoil and disfigure.1847, William Hogan, Auricular Confession and Popish Nunneries, volume 1, Hartford: Silas Andrus and Son, →OCLC, page 142:
  • "Oh Max, it must be true what father says, and I've got two left hands instead of one; what a scolding I'm in for!"1905, R. E. Francillon, “Left-Handed Elsa”, in H. Chalmers Roberts, editor, Tales from "Blackwood": Being the most Famous Series of Stories...
  • Ambidexterity means equal skill with both hands, as contrasted with the term “ambilevous” meaning equally unskilled with both hands (or described as having “two left hands”).2002, Marian Annett, Handedness and Brain Asymmetry: The Right Shift Theory, New York: Psychology Press, →ISBN, page 23:

Origin of two left hands

Calque of French avoir deux mains gauches.

Questions about two left hands

What does two left hands mean?
Two left hands means lack of dexterity in either hand; being ambilevous.
How do you use two left hands in a sentence?
He has two left hands, and was never known to do anything right; whatever he touches he is sure to despoil and disfigure.
What part of speech is two left hands?
Two left hands is a noun.
How do you pronounce two left hands?
Two left hands is pronounced /tuː lɛft hæn(d)z/ (UK).

Words near two left hands in the dictionary

  1. Two Ladies
  2. Two Ladies name
  3. Two Ladies names
  4. two lamps burning and no ship at sea
  5. two left feet
  6. two left hands
  7. two little ducks
  8. two Ls
  9. two men and a dog
  10. Two Mile Flat
  11. two o'clock

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: two left hands (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “two left hands.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/two_left_hands. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.