dexterous (adj.)

c. 1600, "convenient, suitable" (a sense now obsolete), formed in English from Latin dexter "skillful" (from PIE root *deks- "right, opposite of left; south") + -ous. Sense of "deft or nimble with the hands, quick and precise in action" is from 1630s. Meaning "mentally skillful, clever" is from 1620s. Related: Dexterously; dexterousness.