handy

Meanings

Adjective

Noun

Related

Opposite words

Origin

  • From Middle English handy, hondi (attested in personal names), alteration of earlier hendi, from Old English hendiġ (as in listhendiġ), from Proto-Germanic *handugaz, from *handuz, equivalent to hand + -y. Cognate with Middle Low German handich ("skillful, apt"), Middle High German handec, hendec, Old Norse hǫndugr ("efficient"), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌿𐌲𐍃 ("wise, clever"). Akin to Dutch handig ("handy"), Norwegian hendig ("handy"), Swedish händig ("handy").
  • hand + -y
  • -y
  • 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).

Modern English dictionary

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