Etymology

offhand

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Today it means: Without planning or thinking ahead. Full definition →

Middle English *ofhande, *ofhende ← Old English ofhende ← Proto-Germanic *abahandijaz
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic · derived from*abahandijaz
  2. Old English · derived fromofhende“absent, lost”
  3. Middle English · derived from*ofhande, *ofhende
  4. English todayoffhand

From Middle English *ofhande, *ofhende, from Old English ofhende (“absent, lost”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *abahandijaz. Equivalent to (and re-formed as) off- + hand. Cognate with Icelandic afhendur. Compare onhand.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.