handed

hand·ed
H4A1N1D2E1D2
UK/ˈhændɪd/US/ˈhændəd/

adjective

Having a certain kind or number of hands.

Opposite
CommonScrabble 11

Meanings

adjectivehanded (not comparable)
  1. in compoundsnot comparableHaving a certain kind or number of hands.
  2. informalnot comparableSynonym of chiral.

    Synonyms: chiral

  3. in compoundsnot comparableHaving a peculiar or characteristic hand or way of treating others.

    As poisonous tongued as handed

    1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]
  4. not comparableobsoleteWith hands joined; hand in hand.

    Into their inmost bower, / Handed they went.

    1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC
    1 more example

    yet now, if any two be but once handed in the Church, and have tasted in any sort the nuptiall bed, let them finde themselves never so mistak’n in their dispositions through any error, concealment, or misadventure, that through their different tempers, thoughts, and constitutions, they can neither be to one another a remedy against lonelines, nor live in any union or contentment all their dayes, yet they shall, so they be but found suitably weapon’d to the least possibility of sensuall enjoyment, be made, spight of antipathy to fadge together, and combine as they may to their unspeakable wearisomnes and despaire of all sociable delight in the ordinance which God establisht to that very end.

    1643, John Milton, Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce
verb
  1. participlepastsimple past and past participle of hand

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectiveSynonym of chiral.

Similar

More synonyms by meaning

adjectivehaving or involving the use of hands

Opposite

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Germanic*handuz
  2. Proto-West Germanic*handu
  3. Old Englishhand
  4. Middle Englishhond
  5. Englishhand
  6. Englishhanded

From hand + -ed.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Finnish kätinen
  • kätinenhaving a peculiar or characteristic hand
Polish mający rękę
  • mający rękęhaving a peculiar or characteristic hand

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with handed

All rhymes →

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

handed. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/handed

MLA

“handed.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/handed. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “handed,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/handed.

Source: handed on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.