Word.ws English Dictionary

handlangers

handlangers is the plural of handlanger.

Meaning of handlanger

Noun

handlanger (plural handlangers)

  1. (South Africa) An unskilled assistant to an artisan.
    • […] building himself brick by brick, with his wife as his only handlanger.1976, Het Suid Western
  2. (South Africa, figuratively) An aide, an assistant.
    • [E]very political leader has a handlanger. Like a toddler with a security blanket, the political handlanger is a necessary sop and sponge for all the tension that goes with the job. And there is nothing either disreputable or degrading about the role. Politics can be spiteful and demanding; the...2006, Richard Calland, Anatomy of South Africa: Who Holds the Power?, Cape Town: Zebra Press, →ISBN, page 177

See all 3 meanings of handlanger

Noun capitalized: Handlangers

Handlangers

  1. (plural) plural of Handlanger

Questions about handlangers

What is handlangers the plural of?
Handlangers is the plural of handlanger.
What part of speech is handlangers?
Handlangers is a noun.

Words near handlangers in the dictionary

  1. handlable
  2. handlaid
  3. handlamp
  4. handlamps
  5. handlanger
  6. handlangers
  7. handle
  8. handle oneself
  9. handle time
  10. handle times
  11. handle up

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: handlangers (page history and authors); Handlangers (page history and authors); handlanger (page history and authors). 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:

Cite this entry: “handlangers.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/handlangers. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.