Word.ws English Dictionary

handman

handman noun: a (male) servant; manservant.

Noun

handman (plural handmen)

  1. (archaic, rare) A (male) servant; manservant
    • No one knew how many Oracles would show up at each ceremony, seeking replacements for their lieges' handmaidens or handmen.2006, James Clemens, Shadowfall
  2. One who assembles printing type by hand.
    • The handman reads copy and assembles type by hand, including straight composition, tables and display.1918, The Industrial Education Survey of the City of New York, page 44

Forms of handman

pluralhandmen

Origin of handman

From hand + man, modelled after handmaiden, etc. For the printing sense, see by hand.

Questions about handman

What does handman mean?
Handman means a (male) servant; manservant.
What part of speech is handman?
Handman is a noun.
What is the plural of handman?
The plural of handman is handmen.

Words near handman in the dictionary

  1. handmaidens
  2. handmaids
  3. handmake
  4. handmakes
  5. handmaking
  6. handman
  7. handmark
  8. handmarked
  9. handmarks
  10. handmayd
  11. handmayds

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: handman (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: “handman.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/handman. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.