handbreadth

English

Etymology

Alteration (due to breadth) of Middle English handbrede, hondbrede (“handbreadth”), from Old English handbred (“palm of the hand”) and handbrǣd, handbrǣdu (“width of the hand, handbreadth”), equivalent to hand +‎ breadth. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Houndebratte (“handbreadth”), West Frisian hânbreedte (“handbreadth”), Dutch handbreedte (“handbreadth”), German Handbreite (“handbreadth”), Swedish handsbredd (“handbreadth”), Norwegian håndsbredd (“handbreadth”), Icelandic handbreidd (“handbreadth”).

Noun

handbreadth (plural handbreadths)

1. A space equal to the breadth of the hand; a palm.
   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Psalm 39.5,^[1]

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

   • 1847, Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Chapter 23,^[2]

     […] I saw the library casement open a handbreadth; I knew I might be watched thence; so I went apart into the orchard.

   • 1928, D. H. Lawrence, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Garden City, NY: Nelson Doubleday, Chapter 14, p. 219,^[3]

     She followed him into the scullery, and combed her hair before the handbreadth of mirror by the back door.

Translations

A measurement - the width of a hand

• Hungarian: tenyérnyi (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Maori: whānuitanga ringa
• Welsh: dyrnfedd f

Synonyms

• (Judaism) tefach, tefah