Handbreadth

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A space equal to the breadth of the hand; a palm.

    "Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee:"

  2. 2
    any unit of length based on the breadth of the human hand wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
handfulhandfulhandsbreadthtefachtefachtefah

Example

More examples

"Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee:"

Etymology

Alteration (due to breadth) of Middle English handbrede, hondbrede (“handbreadth”); equivalent to hand + breadth. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Houndebratte (“handbreadth”), West Frisian hânbreedte (“handbreadth”), Dutch handbreedte (“handbreadth”), German Handbreite (“handbreadth”) and Handbreit, Swedish handsbredd (“handbreadth”), Norwegian håndsbredd (“handbreadth”), Icelandic handbreidd (“handbreadth”).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.