unhandy

U1N1H4A1N1D2Y4

adjective

Of a person, or movement: not handy; inept; clumsy; not dexterous.

OriginEnglish handy ← Middle English hond ← Old English hand →
Scrabble 14
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Meanings

adjectiveunhandy (comparative unhandier, superlative unhandiest)

comparative unhandier · superlative unhandiest

  1. Of a person, or movement: not handy; inept; clumsy; not dexterous.

    "Strike your father, eh?" Syed Omar launched an unhandy cuff, then another.

    1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 514
    1 more example

    Bradly collected Pippies; their trick vanishing was not too swift for his unhandy clutches.

    1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 177
  2. Awkward; not convenient.

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
awkawkward

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*né
  2. Proto-Indo-European*n̥-
  3. Proto-Germanic*un-
  4. Proto-West Germanic*un-
  5. Old Englishun-
  6. Middle Englishun-
  7. Englishun-
  8. Proto-Germanic*handuz
  9. Proto-West Germanic*handu
  10. Old Englishhand
  11. Middle Englishhond
  12. Englishhand
  13. Englishhandy
  14. Englishunhandy

From un- + handy.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

unhandy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unhandy

MLA

“unhandy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unhandy. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “unhandy,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unhandy.

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