Standard Lemma guide

stagehand

noun · 2 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.

  • General-American: /ˈsteɪd͡ʒˌhænd/
  • CMU ARPABET: S T EY1 JH HH AE2 N D Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A person who works behind the scenes at a theatre or in other theatrical media.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • Holonym: stage crew
  • The actors get the glory, the spotlight and the name up in lights while it is the stagehands who point the spotlight, hang the name and change the light bulbs.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

an employee of a theater who performs work involved in putting on a theatrical production

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: stage technician

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: employee

Narrower terms: property man, propman, property master, sceneshifter, shifter

History

Etymology

From stage + hand (“manual worker”).

Across languages

Translations

13 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: сценичен работник (sceničen rabotnik) — person working behind the scenes in a theatre
  • Czech: kulisák — person working behind the scenes in a theatre
  • Dutch: toneelknecht — person working behind the scenes in a theatre
  • Finnish: näyttämöavustaja — person working behind the scenes in a theatre
  • German: Bühnenhelfer — person working behind the scenes in a theatre
  • German: Bühnenhelferin — person working behind the scenes in a theatre
  • Macedonian: сценски работник (scenski rabotnik) — person working behind the scenes in a theatre
  • Polish: maszynista sceny — person working behind the scenes in a theatre
  • Polish: maszynistka sceny — person working behind the scenes in a theatre
  • Romanian: mașinist — person working behind the scenes in a theatre
  • Spanish: tramoyista — person working behind the scenes in a theatre
  • Spanish: sacasillas — person working behind the scenes in a theatre
  • Swedish: scenarbetare — person working behind the scenes in a theatre