"the two, the one and the other," there are several theories, all similar, and deriving the word from the tendency to say "both the." One is that it is Old English begen (masc.) "both" (from Proto-Germanic *bai, from PIE *bho "both") + -þ extended base. Another traces it to the Proto-Germanic formula represented in Old English by ba þa "both these," from ba (feminine nominative and accusative of begen) + þa, nominative and accusative plural of se "that." A third traces it to Old Norse baðir "both," from *bai thaiz "both the," from Proto-Germanic *thaiz, third person plural pronoun. Compare similar formation in Old Frisian bethe, Dutch beide, Old High German beide, German beide, Gothic bajoþs.

"faculty of using both hands with equal facility," 1650s, with -ity + Medieval Latin ambidexter, literally "right-handed on both sides," from ambi- "both, on both sides" (see ambi-) + dexter "right-handed" (from PIE root *deks- "right; south").

also ambidexterous, "able to use both hands equally," 1640s, with -ous + Medieval Latin ambidexter, literally "right-handed on both sides," from ambi- "both, on both sides" (see ambi-) + dexter "right-handed" (from PIE root *deks- "right; south"). An earlier English use of ambidexter (adj.) meant "double-dealer, one who takes both sides in a conflict" (late 14c.).

Its opposite, ambilevous "left-handed on both sides," hence "clumsy" (1640s) is rare. Ambidexter as a noun is attested from 1530s (in the sense "one who takes bribes from both sides") and is the earliest form of the word in English; its sense of "one who uses both hands equally well" appears by 1590s.

before a vowel amph-, word-forming element meaning "on both sides, of both kinds; on all sides, all around," from Greek amphi (prep., adv.) "round about, on both sides of, all around; about, regarding," which is cognate with Latin ambi-, both from PIE root *ambhi- "around."

"attraction to both sexes" 1892, in translation of Krafft-Ebing; see bisexual + -ity. Earlier "quality of having the organs of both sexes" (1850).

word-forming element meaning "both, on both sides," from Latin ambi- "around, round about" (before vowels amb-, also sometimes reduced to am-, an-), from PIE root *ambhi- "around," which is probably an ablative plural (*ant-bhi "from both sides") of *ant- "front, forehead."

"cutting or working both ways," especially figurative, of arguments, etc., "making both for and against the one using it," 1550s; see double (adj.) + edge (n.).

"one having characteristics of both sexes," 1917, from German intersexe (1915); see inter- "between" + sex (n.). Coined by German-born U.S. geneticist Richard Benedict Goldschmidt (1878-1958). Intersexual is from 1866 as "existing between the sexes, pertaining to both sexes;" from 1916 as "having both male and female characteristics." Related: intersexuality.

1884 of the region of the Atlantic beside both continents; ; see Euro- + African Transferred or re-coined to describe the "colored" population of South Africa (1920s) and political situations involving both continents (1909).

"characterized by pathological loss of ability to speak," 1867, from aphasia + -ic. Aphasiac (1868) is better as the noun, "one suffering from aphasia," but both words have been used in both senses.