handsome

English

Etymology

hand +‎ -some, compare Dutch handzaam.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈhændsʌm/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: hand‧some

Adjective

handsome (comparative more handsome or handsomer, superlative most handsome or handsomest)

1. (obsolete) Dexterous; skillful; handy; ready; convenient; -- applied to things as persons.

   • That they [engines of war] be both easy to be carried and handsome to be moved and turned about. - Robynson (Utopia)
   • For a thief it is so handsome as it may seem it was first invented for him. - Edmund Spenser

2. (of a man) Agreeable to the eye or to correct taste; having a pleasing appearance or expression; attractive.

   a handsome man; a handsome garment, house, tree, horse.

3. (of a woman) Striking, impressive and elegantly proportioned, though not typically beautiful.
4. Suitable or fit in action; marked with propriety and ease; graceful; becoming; appropriate.

   Examples: a handsome style, etc.

   • Easiness and handsome address in writing. - Felton

5. Evincing a becoming generosity or nobleness of character; liberal; generous.

   • Handsome is as handsome does. - Old Proverb

6. Ample; moderately large.

   • He . . . accumulated a handsome sum of money. - V. Knox

7. Having a good appearance
   • 2011 November 5, Phil Dawkes, “QPR 2 - 3 Man City”, BBC Sport:

     City have lapped up the plaudits this season for a series of handsome wins but manager Roberto Mancini has demanded that his side also learn to grind out results when they do not play well. He now has an example to point to.

Derived terms

• to do the handsome thing

Synonyms

• (agreeable, attractive, pleasing): pretty

Translations

dexterous; skillful

Latin: scitulus (la)

Portuguese: hábil (pt)

of man: agreeable to the eye or to correct taste

Arabic: جميل (ar) (jamiil) Armenian: սիրուն (hy) (sirun), գեղեցիկ (hy) (geġec’ik) Aromanian: mushat Chinese: Mandarin: 帥 (cmn), 帅 (cmn) (shuài), 英俊 (cmn) (yīngjùn) Czech: pohledný (cs) m. Dutch: knap (nl) Finnish: komea (fi), kaunis (fi) French: beau (fr) German: hübsch (de), stattlich (de) Greek: ωραίος (el) (oraios) Haitian Creole: bèl Hebrew: טוב מראה (he) (tov mareh) Hindi: ख़ूबसूरत (hi) (xūbsūrat) Hungarian: jóképű (hu), jóvágású (hu) Indonesian: ganteng (id), tampan (id) Interlingua: bel, belle Italian: bello (it)

Japanese: ハンサムな (ja) (hansamu-na) Kurdish: قۆز Latin: pulchrum (la), scitulus (la) Malayalam: സുന്ദരന്‍ (ml) (sundaran) Norwegian: pen (no) Polish: piękny (pl), przystojny (pl) Portuguese: bonito (pt) Romanian: frumos (ro) Russian: красивый (ru) (krasívyj) Scots: braw Scottish Gaelic: eireachdail (gd) Spanish: bello (es), lindo (es), hermoso (es), apuesto (es) Swedish: stilig (sv) Tagalog: guwapo (tl) Turkish: yakışıklı (tr) Urdu: خوبصورت (ur) (xūbsūrat) Welsh: golygus (cy)

marked with propriety and ease

generous

moderately large

Verb

handsome (third-person singular simple present handsomes, present participle handsoming, simple past and past participle handsomed)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To render handsome.