Standard Lemma guide

palmistry

noun · 4 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

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈpɑːmɪstɹi/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈpɑːməstɹi/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˈpɑ(l)məstɹi/
  • General-American: /ˈpɔ(l)məstɹi/
  • CMU ARPABET: P AA1 M IH0 S T R IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A book on palmistry; a system of palmistry.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, usually

Examples

  • 1996, Richard Grossinger, New Moon, Berkeley, CA: Frog, Part 7, Chapter 2, p. 534, To fulfill my graduate language requirement I began reading Michel Foucault’s work on signatures, Les Mots et Les Choses, which joined the meanings of the bestiaries, herbals, palmistries, and physiognomies of olden Europe to the totemic orders of plants and animals among the Arapaho, Xhosa, and Aranda.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A dexterous use or trick of the hand.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete, rare, uncountable, usually

Examples

  • 1711, Joseph Addison and Richard Steele, The Spectator, Volume 2, No. 130, 30 July, 1711, London: J. and R. Tonson, 12th edition, 1739, p. 182, In the Height of his Good-humour, meeting a common Beggar upon the Road who was no Conjuror, as he went to relieve him he found his Pocket was pick’d: That being a Kind of Palmistry at which this Race of Vermin are very dextrous.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

telling fortunes by lines on the palm of the hand

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: palm reading, chiromancy, chirology

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: divination, foretelling, soothsaying, fortune telling

History

Etymology

From Middle English palmestrie. Equivalent to palm + -ist + -ry.

Across languages

Translations

50 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: قِراءَةُ الْكَفّ (qirāʔatu l-kaff) — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Bulgarian: хиромантия (hiromantija) — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Catalan: quiromància — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Chinese Mandarin: 手相术 — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Chinese Mandarin: 手相術 /手相术 — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Chinese Mandarin: 手相 (shǒuxiàng) — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Czech: čtení z ruky — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Czech: chiromancie — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Danish: håndlæsning — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Danish: kiromanti — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Dutch: handlijnkunde — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Dutch: chiromantie — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Finnish: kädestäennustaminen — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • French: chiromancie — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Georgian: ქირომანტია (kiromanṭia) — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • German: Chiromantie — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • German: Handlesekunst — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • German: Handlesen — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Hungarian: tenyérjóslás — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Interlingua: chiromantia — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Irish: dearnadóireacht — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Italian: chirognomia — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Italian: chirologia — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Italian: chiromanzia — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Italian: chiroscopia — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Japanese: 手相 (tesō) — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Latin: chiromantia — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Latin: chyromantia — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Middle English: chiromantie — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Middle English: chiromanty — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Middle English: chyromancie — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Middle English: ciromanci — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Middle English: ciromancie — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Middle English: cyromancy — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Middle English: cyromancye — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Middle English: palmestrie — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Middle English: pawmestry — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Norwegian: håndlesning — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Portuguese: quiromancia — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Romanian: chiromanție — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Russian: гада́ние (gadánije) — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Russian: хирома́нтия (xiromántija) — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Spanish: quiromancia — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Spanish: quiromancía — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Spanish: quirología — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Swedish: kiromanti — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Swedish: spådom — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Swedish: handläsning — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Tagalog: himalad — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand
  • Telugu: హస్తసాముద్రికము (hastasāmudrikamu) — telling fortunes from the lines on the palms of the hand