handbook
/ˈhændˌbʊk/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
British/ˈhandˌbɵk/
handbook noun: a topically organized book of reference on a certain field of knowledge, regardless of size, but archetypally one to be kept readily at hand.
Noun
handbook (plural handbooks)
- A topically organized book of reference on a certain field of knowledge, regardless of size, but archetypally one to be kept readily at hand.
- Synonyms:
- manual, enchiridion
- A place where illicit bets can be placed.
- The extent of the business done in this line is not understood by those who have not looked into it. In New York there are 50 pool rooms and 500 handbooks; in East St. Louis, 20 handbooks; in Chicago, 5 pool rooms and 200 handbooks; […]1916, U.S. Congress. Senate. Committee on interstate commerce, Prevention of Transmission of Race-gambling Bets, page 23
- Persons subject to his rule can be found operating, in addition to the wire service, wire service relays, handbooks, gambling houses, prostitution establishments, coin-operated device companies, bars, restaurants, night clubs, motels, […]1961, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Government Operations. Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Gambling and Organized Crime: Hearings
handbook meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
handbook in Hindi
- a book of reference
- लघु ग्रंथ laghu granth
handbook in Tamil
- கையேடு
handbook in Marathi
- हस्तपुस्तिका, हातपुस्तिका
handbook in Urdu
- بیاض, مختصر دستور العمل
More languagesFewer languages
- handbook in Bengali
- হ্যান্ডবুক, হাতের বই
- handbook in Telugu
- హ్యాండ్బుక్, చేతి పుస్తకం, చేతిపుస్తకం
- handbook in Malayalam
- കെെപ്പുസ്തകം, സംഗ്രഹഗ്രന്ഥം, ലഘുപുസ്തകം, ചെറുപുസ്തകം
- handbook in Kannada
- ಕಿರುಹೊತ್ತಿಗೆ, ಕಿರುಕಡತ, ಕೈಪಿಡಿ, ಕೆಯ್ವಿಡಿ
- handbook in Punjabi
- ਹੈਂਡਬੁੱਕ, ਹੱਥ ਪੁਸਤਕ
- handbook in Gujarati
- હેન્ડબુક, હસ્તપુસ્તિકા, હાથપુસ્તિકા
- handbook in Odia
- ହସ୍ତପୁସ୍ତିକା, ହ୍ଯ଼ାଣ୍ଡବୁକ୍, ହ୍ଯ଼ାଣ୍ଡବୁକ
- handbook in Nepali
- हस्तपुस्तिका, ह्यान्डबुक, हातपुस्तिका
- handbook in Tagalog
- dalaklat
- handbook in Arabic
- دَلِيل dalīl, كُتَيِّب kutayyib
- handbook in Malay
- buku panduan
- handbook in Indonesian
- buku pegangan
- handbook in Thai
- คู่มือ kûu-mʉʉ
- handbook in Vietnamese
- sổ tay
- Sindhi
- دَستِينامو dastīnāmo
Examples of handbook in a sentence
- This technical handbook is the Bible of our trade.
- The botany handbooks in the library fall under Plant Biology.
- A qin handbook is called qinpu in Chinese, which means literally qin tablature.
Synonyms of handbook
Forms of handbook
| plural | handbooks |
|---|
Origin of handbook
From Middle English handbok, from Old English handbōc (“handbook”), possibly reinforced as a calque of German Handbuch (“handbook”). By surface analysis, hand + book. Compare West Frisian hânboek (“handbook”), Dutch handboek (“handbook”), German Low German Handbook (“handbook”), Danish håndbog (“handbook”), Swedish handbok (“handbook”), Icelandic handbók (“handbook”).
Words formed from handbook
Questions about handbook
- What does handbook mean?
- Handbook means a topically organized book of reference on a certain field of knowledge, regardless of size, but archetypally one to be kept readily at hand.
- What is handbook in Hindi?
- Handbook in Hindi is लघु ग्रंथ (laghu granth). See Handbook meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is handbook?
- Handbook is a noun.
- How do you pronounce handbook?
- Handbook is pronounced /ˈhændˌbʊk/ (UK).
- What is the plural of handbook?
- The plural of handbook is handbooks.
Words near handbook in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: handbook (page history and authors); handbook (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); handbook (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); handbook (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); handbook (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); handbook (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); handbook (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); handbook (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); handbook (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); handbook (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); handbook (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); handbook (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-handbook.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-AnotherFriendlyHuman-handbook.wav.
Cite this entry: “handbook.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/handbook. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.