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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

handbook.

A topically organized book of reference on a certain field of knowledge, regardless of size, but archetypally one to be kept readily at hand.

8 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈhændˌbʊk/Received-Pronunciation/ˈhandˌbɵk/British, Southern, Standard/ˈhændˌbʊk/Australia, General-American[ˈhɛəndˌbʊk]Australia, General-American
  1. A topically organized book of reference on a certain field of knowledge, regardless of size, but archetypally one to be kept readily at hand.

  2. A place where illicit bets can be placed.

    US
Where this word comes from

From Middle English handbok, from Old English handbōc (“handbook”), possibly reinforced as a calque of German Handbuch (“handbook”). By surface analysis, hand + book. Compare West Frisian hânboek (“handbook”), Dutch handboek (“handbook”), German Low German Handbook (“handbook”), Danish håndbog (“handbook”), Swedish handbok (“handbook”), Icelandic handbók (“handbook”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.