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handiwork.

Work done by the hands.

9 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈhændiˌwɜːk/Received-Pronunciation/ˈhændiˌwɝk/General-American
  1. Work done by the hands.

    uncountable · usually
  2. A handmade object; a handicraft.

    uncountable · usually
    The Museum of Popular Arts showcases Portugal's finest handiworks.
  3. Work done personally.

    uncountable · usually
    The street names are the handiwork of city planners.
  4. The result of personal efforts.

    uncountable · usually
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *handuz Proto-West Germanic *handu Old English hand Proto-Indo-European *ḱe? Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm Proto-Germanic *ga- Proto-West Germanic *ga- Old English ġe- Proto-Indo-European *werǵ- Proto-Indo-European *-om Proto-Indo-European *wérǵom Proto-Germanic *werką Proto-West Germanic *werk Old English weorc Old English ġeweorc Old English handġeweorc Middle English hondywerk English handiwork From Middle English hondywerk, handiwerc, from Old English handġeweorc (“work done by hand, creation”), from hand (“hand”) + ġeweorc (“work”). Equivalent to hand + work, though it may now be reinterpreted as handy (“skilful”) + work. Compare Saterland Frisian Hondwierk, Dutch handwerk, German Handwerk.

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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.