Word.ws English Dictionary

handy

/ˈhæn.di/

handy adjective: easy to use, useful.

Adjective

handy (comparative handier, superlative handiest)

  1. Easy to use, useful.
    • Some people regard duct tape as a handy fix-all.
  2. Nearby, within reach.
    • You wouldn’t have a screwdriver handy, would you?
    • I keep a first-aid kit handy in case of emergency.
    Synonyms:
    at hand, on hand, to hand
  3. Dexterous, skilful. (of a person)
    • She's very handy: she made all her own kitchen cupboards.
    Synonyms:
    crafty
  4. (slang) Physically violent; tending to use one's fists.
    • We had a sergeant who was a bit handy with the rougher elements. He dealt with them a little bit differently to what I do.1974, William Purcell, British Police in a Changing Society, page 68
    • The Sloanes said he had nothing on them, that he threatened them, made up a lot of lies. Tried to attack them, got a bit handy.2012, Tania Carver, Choked
  5. Of a freight ship: having a small cargo capacity (less than 40,000 DWT); belonging to the handysize class.

Noun (1)

handy (plural handies)

  1. (childish) The hand.
    • Clap, clap handies
      Mammie's wee, wee ain.1916, Blanche Fisher Wright, The Real Mother Goose Nursery Rhyme Illustration

Noun (2)

handy (plural handies)

  1. (Multicultural-London-English, slang) A handgun.
    • Look left and right, when I cross these roads,
      I don’t wanna get fright
      We got handies and shotties,
      which one should you decide?2020 July 9, C1, “Even Steven”, 1:51–1:57
  2. (slang, vulgar) A hand job.
    Synonyms:
    wristy

Noun (3)

handy (plural handies)

  1. (non-native speakers' English) (mostly used by Germans) Synonym of mobile phone.
    • An important field of application for small rechargeable lithium ion batteries is that of the fast growing market of cellular phones or ‘handies’. 277,000,000 handies were sold worldwide in 1999.2000, TELESCON 2000: The Third International Telecommunications Energy Special Conference, IEEE, →ISBN, section 9 (Look at the Market), page 127
    • “I’m afraid Mister Franklyn is occupied until seven o’clock. He shall call when he breaks. I’ll take a handy to receive calls—”[…]The distance frees him to take phone calls on his handy.2003, Regina Harris Baiocchi, Indigo Sound, Susaami Books, →ISBN, pages 79 and 82

Proper noun capitalized: Handy

Handy

  1. A surname transferred from the nickname.
  2. (rare) A male given name from English.

handy meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam

handy in Tamil

அருகிலுள்ள, கைக்கு அடக்கமான, கைக்கு எளிதான, கையாளுகை வசதியுள்ள, எளிதாகக் கையாளக் கூடிய

handy in Urdu

کارآمد, ماہر, قریب

handy in Bengali

কুশলী, সুবিধাজনক, ক্ষুদ্র

handy in Malayalam

ഒതുക്കമുളള, സൗകര്യപ്രദമായ, കൈകാര്യം ചെയ്യാൻ എളുപ്പമുളള
More languagesFewer languages
handy in Kannada
ಅನುಕೂಲಕರ, ಉಪಯುಕ್ತ, ಪ್ರಯೋಜನಕಾರಿ, ಸಮಯಕ್ಕೆ ಒದಗುವ
handy in Gujarati
હાથવગું hāthavgũ
handy in Indonesian
praktis, terjangkau, cakap, mahir
handy in Persian
سودمند sudmand, بهدردبخور be-dard-boxor, در دسترس dar dastres, دم دست dam-e dast

Examples of handy in a sentence

  • And finally, have potholders and a stack of old towels handy before you begin.2026, Katherine Augustine, “Dyeing in the Baking Aisle”, in Spin Off, volume L, number 1, page 33:
  • Life was good and quiet until six weeks ago when he received a phone call on his handy from Unbekannt Nummer --Unknown Number.2017, Sheldon Charles, From Within the Firebird’s Nest, Valkyrie Spirit Publishing, →ISBN:

All 40 example sentences with handy

Synonyms of handy

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of handy

Forms of handy

Adjective
comparativehandier
superlativehandiest
alternative form (obsolete, dialectal)hendy
Noun
pluralhandies

Origin of handy

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”).

From hand + -y (diminutive suffix).

Clipping of handgun and hand job followed by -y (diminutive suffix).

Words formed from handy

Phrases with handy

Words that rhyme with handy

5 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about handy

What does handy mean?
Handy means easy to use, useful.
What is handy in Tamil?
Handy in Tamil is அருகிலுள்ள, கைக்கு அடக்கமான, கைக்கு எளிதான. See Handy meaning in Tamil.
How do you use handy in a sentence?
And finally, have potholders and a stack of old towels handy before you begin.
What part of speech is handy?
Handy can be an adjective, a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce handy?
Handy is pronounced /ˈhæn.di/.

Words near handy in the dictionary

  1. handwritings
  2. handwrits
  3. handwritten
  4. handwrote
  5. handwrought
  6. handy
  7. handy dandy
  8. handy talkie
  9. handy talkies
  10. handy-dandy
  11. handy-fight

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: handy (page history and authors); Handy (page history and authors); handy (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); handy (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); handy (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); handy (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); handy (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); હાથવગું (Gujarati) (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: En-us-handy.ogg.

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