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DictionaryRoot: bord
Old English

bord

board, plank, or table

Forms

  • bord
  • board — The modern spelling developed with later vowel changes.

Origin

An inherited Germanic word for a flat wooden piece.

Note

A table could stand for the people meeting or eating around it.

3 / 3
noun / adjective / adverb

starboard

STAR-berd/ˈstɑːrbərd/

The right-hand side of a vessel or aircraft when facing forward.

The sailor points to starboard while facing forward toward the bow.

View from behind a sailor on a wooden ship, looking FORWARD toward the pointed bow at the TOP of the image. His back faces us. His RIGHT arm extends horizontally toward the RIGHT rail on the RIGHT of the picture, where another crew member secures a rope. Bow clearly narrows to a point ahead; no stern wheel.
Etymology
starOld Englishrudder, steering paddle
+boardOld Englishboard, plank, or table

The pieces mean “steering-paddle side.” Early Germanic boats were steered with a paddle on the right, so the name of the steering side became the term for the right-hand side facing forward.

In context

Epic History6:28
The right side of the ship - starboard.
3D Guide to an 18th century Ship-of-the-Line
Geographics5:26
The rules of the \"road\" dictated that ships were to stay on the right, or starboard,
Halifax: Canada's Great War Casualty

More examples

  • Keep the channel marker to starboard as we pass.
  • The pilot banks starboard to avoid the storm.
  • The crew checks the starboard engine before leaving the dock.

Forms

starboard

Similar words

right
Depends on viewpoint; starboard always assumes facing the vessel's front.