Word.ws English Dictionary

handsaw

handsaw noun: a saw small enough to be used by one hand.

handsaw: a saw small enough to be used by one hand
Image: Mnemosine, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

handsaw (plural handsaws)

  1. A saw small enough to be used by one hand.

Noun (2)

handsaw (plural handsaws)

  1. (obsolete) A heron.
    • When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw.c. 1600, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, act II, scene II

handsaw meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Tagalog

handsaw in Hindi

saw small enough to be used by one hand
आरी ārī

handsaw in Tamil

வாள்

handsaw in Urdu

دستی آری

handsaw in Tagalog

saw small enough to be used by one hand
nakakita, nakita
More languagesFewer languages
handsaw in Malay
gergaji
handsaw in Indonesian
gergaji
handsaw in Persian
دستره dastare, دست اره dast-arre
handsaw in Thai
ปื้น bpeuun
handsaw in Vietnamese
cưa tay

Forms of handsaw

pluralhandsaws

Origin of handsaw

From Middle English handsawe, handsagh, equivalent to hand + saw. Cognate with West Frisian hânseage (“handsaw”), Dutch handzaag (“handsaw”), German Handsäge (“handsaw”), Danish håndsav (“handsaw”), Swedish handsåg (“handsaw”), Icelandic handsög (“handsaw”).

Corruption of heronshaw.

Questions about handsaw

What does handsaw mean?
Handsaw means a saw small enough to be used by one hand.
What is handsaw in Hindi?
Handsaw in Hindi is आरी (ārī). See Handsaw meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is handsaw?
Handsaw is a noun.
What is the plural of handsaw?
The plural of handsaw is handsaws.

Words near handsaw in the dictionary

  1. hands-off
  2. hands-on
  3. hands-ons
  4. Handsacre
  5. handsale
  6. handsaw
  7. handsawing
  8. handsaws
  9. handsbreadth
  10. handsbreadths
  11. Handscomb

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: handsaw (page history and authors); handsaw (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); handsaw (Urdu Wiktionary) (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:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-handsaw.wav.

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