Standard Lemma guide

handed

adj · verb · 6 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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Received-Pronunciation: /ˈhændɪd/
General-American: /ˈhændəd/
General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
rhymes with -ændɪd
CMU ARPABET: HH AE1 N D AH0 D Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
CMU ARPABET 2: HH AE1 N D IH0 D Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

adj

Meaning 1

Having a certain kind or number of hands.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: in-compounds, not-comparable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

adj

Meaning 2

Synonym of chiral.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: informal, not-comparable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: chiral

Antonyms: none provided

adj

Meaning 3

Having a peculiar or characteristic hand or way of treating others.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: in-compounds, not-comparable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

adj

Meaning 4

With hands joined; hand in hand.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable, obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

verb

Meaning 5

simple past and past participle of hand

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: form-of, participle, past

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

adjective

Meaning 6

having or involving the use of hands

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

a handed, tree-living animal
a four-handed card game

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: handless

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *handuz Proto-West Germanic *handu Old English hand Middle English hond English hand Old English -ed Proto-Indo-European *-h2 Proto-Indo-European *-éh2 Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *-eh2tos Proto-Germanic *-ōdaz Old English -od Middle English -ed English -ed English handed From hand + -ed.

Across languages

Translations

2 source translations are retained for this English entry.

Finnish: kätinen — having a peculiar or characteristic hand
Polish: mający rękę — having a peculiar or characteristic hand

Word forms

Inflections and variants

No separate word forms were provided.

Word family

Derived and related words

Derived: ambi-handed, back-handed, backhanded, back-handed compliment, bare-handed, barehanded, black-handed gibbon, bloody-handed, both-handed, brokenhanded, broken-handed, cack-handed, car-handed, catch red-handed, clean-handed, click-handed, closehanded, close-handed, coarsehanded, coarse-handed, cow-handed, cow handed, crabbed-handed, crosshanded, cross-handed, cross-handedness, dab-handed, deadhanded, dead-handed, deadly-handed, defthanded, deft-handed, delicate-handed, dirty-handed, double-handed, doublehanded, doughty-handed, dry-handed, either-handed, emptyhanded, empty-handed, evenhanded, even-handed, fair-handed, fairhanded, fast-handed, forehanded, fore-handed, fourhanded, four-handed, frank-handed, freehanded, free-handed, full-handed, gawk-handed, gentle-handed, get one's ass handed to one, glad-handed, gouty-handed, gripe-handed, gripple-handed, ham-handed, handedly, handedness, hardhanded, hard handed, hard-handed, have one's ass handed to one, heavy-handed, high-handed, hook-handed, horny-handed, Hundred-handed, idle-handed, iron handed, ironhanded, iron-handed, kack-handed, katy-handed, keck-handed, lady-handed, large-handed, left-handed, lefthanded, left-handed cigarette, left-handed compliment, left-handed path, left-handed specialist, level-handed, light-handed, lily-handed, loose-handed, lusty-handed, many-handed, Marlborough-handed, mbi-handed, mighty-handed, million-handed, mob-handed, mob handed, molly-handed, myriad-handed, naked-handed, neat-handed, nimble-handed, numb-handed, off-handed, offhanded, one-handed, open-handed, over-handed, overhanded, paper-handed, partan-handed, pink-handed, powerful-handed, quick-handed, ready-handed, red-handed, right-handed, right handed, right-handed path, room-handed, scram-handed, second-handed, secondhanded, shorthanded, short handed, short-handed, shovel-handed, side-handed, single-handed, single handed, slack-handed, sleight-handed, soft-handed, soft handed, spade-handed, spare-handed, steady-handed, strait-handed, strong-handed, sure-handed, sweet-handed, swift-handed, tender-handed, thousand-handed, three-handed, toom-handed, tway-handed, two-handed, under-handed, underhanded, up-handed, uphanded, weak-handed, well-handed, white-handed, white-handed gibbon, wide-handed, wing-handed, worldly-handed, yare-handed

Related: handless, handedness

Spelling and sound

Hyphenation and homophones

Hyphenation: hand·ed

Semantic map

Other relationships

Sources

Where this information comes from

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Real reading context

Meaning relationships

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Examples

Meaning relationships

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