Sinistral and dextral
（重定向自Left lateral fault）
![Schematic illustration of the two strike-slip fault types. The view is of the Earth's surface from above.](/Images/godic/202501/23/Strike_slip_fault4928.png")
![Left: The normally sinistral (left-handed) shell of the Northern Hemisphere Neptunea angulata.Right: The normally dextral (right-handed) shell of Neptunea despecta, found mainly in the Southern Hemisphere](/Images/godic/202501/23/Neptunea_-_links&rechts_gewonden4928.jpg")
Sinistral and dextral, in some scientific fields, are the two types of chirality (“handedness”) or relative direction.
The terms are derived from the Latin words for “left” (sinister) and “right” (dexter).
Other disciplines have different terms (such as dextro- and laevo-rotary, in chemistry, or clockwise and anticlockwise in physics) or simply use left and right (as in anatomy).