In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or better in dexterity. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjectively preferred, is called the non-dominant hand. Right-handedness is by far more common; about 90% of the human population are right hand dominant. Handedness is often defined by one's writing hand, as it is fairly common for people to prefer to do some tasks with each hand. There are examples of true ambidexterity (equal preference of either hand), but it is rare — most people prefer using one hand for most purposes.

Most of the current research suggests that left-handedness has an epigenetic marker — a combination of genetics, biology and the environment.

Because the vast majority of the population is right-handed, many devices are designed for use by right-handed people, making their use by left-handed people more difficult. In many countries, left-handed people are or were required to write with their right hands. Left-handed people are also more prone to certain health problems. However, left-handed people have an advantage in sports that involves aiming at a target in an area of an opponent's control, as their opponents are more accustomed to the right-handed majority. As a result, they are over-represented in baseball, tennis, fencing, cricket, boxing and MMA.

 

Note:   The above text is excerpted from the Wikipedia article Handedness, which has been released under the GNU Free Documentation License.