handy

English Online Dictionary. What means handy‎? What does handy mean?

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English handy, hondi (attested in personal names), alteration of earlier hendi (“handy, skillful”), from Old English *hendiġ (“skillful”) (attested in listhendiġ (“skilled in art”)), from Proto-West Germanic *handīg, *handag, *handug, from Proto-Germanic *handugaz (“handy, skillful, nimble”), from *handuz (“hand”), equivalent to hand +‎ -y. Cognate with Saterland Frisian jäntich (“handy”), Middle Low German handich (“skillful, apt”), Middle High German handec, hendec (“manual, hand-held”), Old Norse hǫndugr (“efficient”), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌿𐌲𐍃 (handugs, “wise, clever”). Akin to Dutch handig (“handy”), Norwegian hendig (“handy”), Swedish händig (“handy”).

Alternative forms

• hendy (obsolete or dialectal)

Pronunciation

• enPR: hăn'di, IPA^(key): /ˈhæn.di/
• Rhymes: -ændi

Adjective

handy (comparative handier, superlative handiest)

1. Easy to use, useful.

2. Nearby, within reach.

   Synonyms: at hand, on hand, to hand

3. Dexterous, skilful. (of a person)

   Synonym: crafty

4. (slang) Physically violent; tending to use one's fists.
5. Of a freight ship: having a small cargo capacity (less than 40,000 DWT); belonging to the handysize class.

Antonyms

• awkward

Derived terms

Translations

References

• “handy”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “handy”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “handy”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Etymology 2

hand +‎ -y (“diminutive suffix”)

Noun

handy (plural handies or handsies)

1. (childish) The hand.

Etymology 3

Clipping of handgun and hand job followed by -y (“diminutive suffix”)

Noun

handy (plural handies)

1. (MLE, slang) A handgun.
2. (vulgar, slang) A hand job.

   Synonym: wristy

Translations

Etymology 4

Disputed; see German Handy: according to some commentators, this meaning is originally from German (a condensed form of Handfunktelefon), whereas others claim there was an early, but now neglected, antetype of it in English (from etymology 1).

Noun

handy (plural handies)

1. (mostly used by Germans) Synonym of mobile phone

Descendants

• →? German: Handy

Translations

Anagrams

• Haydn

Scots

Adjective

handy (comparative handier, superlative handiest)

1. handy
2. dexterous, skilful
3. amenable (of an animal)