左 zuǒ left
Made up of [工 gōng work; skill radical 48, 手 shǒu hand ]Used as component 左 in :隋 suí
Made with 5 strokes.
Represents holding a carpenter's square in the hand
Ancient small seal form 
Related characters
Also uses 工 gōng component: 功 gōng (accomplishment) 红 hóng (red) ; 江 jiāng (river) ; 经 jīng (Classic) ; 空 kòng (to empty)
Also uses 手 shǒu component: 看 kàn (look) 右 yòu (right) ; 掌 zhǎng (palm of the hand)
Different tone
昨 zuó (previous) ; 座 zuò (seat) ; 坐 zuò (sit) ; 作 zuò (to do) ; 做 zuò (to make)Pronunciation
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Proverbs
顾左右而言他 gù zuǒ yòu ér yán tā Avoiding talking about something; taking a long digression左右为难 zuǒ yòu wéi nán In a dilemma
王顾左右而言他 wáng gù zuǒ yòu ér yán tā Evading making an uncomfortable reply by changing the topic of conversation. The story is of Mencius who asked three questions of the king of Qi, when the last question touched on the king's mismanagement of the kingdom, the king looked left and right to other guests to dodge making a response