Etymology

handwork

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Today it means: Work done by the hands, as opposed to by machine. Full definition →

Middle English hondwerk ← Old English handweorc ← Proto-Germanic *handuwerką
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*handuwerką
  2. Old English · inherited fromhandweorc“work done by hand; handiwork”
  3. Middle English · inherited fromhondwerk
  4. English todayhandwork

From Middle English hondwerk, from Old English handweorc (“work done by hand; handiwork”), from Proto-Germanic *handuwerką; equivalent to hand + work. Cognate with Dutch handwerk, German Handwerk, Swedish hantverk.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.