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PARTIAL ENGLISH COVERAGE · FULL CORPUS REMAINS LOCAL5 source sections across 2 headwords matching “Handy”. These are separate from the reviewed results below.
HandyEnglish (en) · Unnumbered etymologySource text
Originating as a nickname for a handy person.
Original Wiktionary entry and references ↗handyEnglish (en) · Etymology 1Source text
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”).
Original Wiktionary entry and references ↗handyEnglish (en) · Etymology 2Source text
Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *handuz Proto-West Germanic *handu Old English hand Middle English hond English hand Proto-Germanic *-j-, *-ij- Proto-West Germanic *-i, *-ī Old English -iġ Middle English -y English -y English handy From hand + -y (diminutive suffix).
Original Wiktionary entry and references ↗handyEnglish (en) · Etymology 3Source text
Clipping of handgun and hand job followed by -y (diminutive suffix).
Original Wiktionary entry and references ↗handyEnglish (en) · Etymology 4Source text
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).
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