dexterous [E17th] The first meaning of dexterous was ‘clever, mentally agile’. A little later it began to refer to physical coordination, and ‘having skill with the hands’ remains the primary modern sense. The word goes back to Latin dexter ‘on the right’, which is also the root of dexterity [E16th]: people have traditionally associated right-handedness with manual skill. See also ambidextrous, sinister.