that’s only partly true:
economically liberal indeed means free markets and capitalism (this is why the australian conservative party is called the Liberal party)
however liberalism as a whole includes individual rights like human and civil rights, secularism, etc (this is what the US tends to define as liberal)
it’s an overloaded and imperfect term for our current global political cultures
similar applies to left and right wing:
the left are supporters of change and generally change that supports less fortunate and leads to less social hierarchy
what both these things have in common is that liberal and left wing are about change and new ideas, whilst conservative and right wing are about maintaining the status quo (or as is more currently the case, regressing to a previous status quo)