While this looks like a word you might want to exclaim when you drop something on your foot — “widdershins!” — it’s actually an adverb that describes moving counterclockwise. It developed from a mix of the Middle Low German word “weddersins” and the Middle High German word “widersinnes.” Both of these words came from the same roots — “wider” (“against”) and “sin” (“direction”). When “widdershins” came into use in the 16th century, it described moving against the course of the sun, but time was more commonly measured the sun then. While it’s a rare word today, the meaning is more relevant as “counterclockwise.”