The story
- Middle English · inherited frommishandlen
- English todaymishandle
From Middle English mishandlen, equivalent to mis- + handle. Cognate with Saterland Frisian mishondelje, West Frisian mishandelje, Dutch mishandelen (“to mistreat”), German misshandeln (“to mistreat”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.